
PHRENOLOGICAL BUST. 
See Page 164. 



ETHEBOLOGT; 



OR, 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF MESMERISM 



PHRENOLOGY 



INCLUDING A NEW 



PHILOSOPHY OF SLEEP AND OF CONSCIOUSNESS, 



WITH A REVIEW OF 



THE PRETENSIONS OF NEUROLOGY AND PHRENO-MAGNETISM- 



BY J. STANLEY GRIMES, 

COUNSELLOR AT LAW, FORMERLY PRESIDENT OF THE WESTERN PHRENOLOGICAL SOCIETY, 
PROFESSOR OF MEDICAL JURISPRUDENCE IN THE CASTLETON MEDICAL COLLEGE, 
AND AUTHOR OF 'ANEW SYSTEM OF PHRENOLOGY.' 



All the known phenomena of the universe may be referred to three general princi- 
ples, viz . : Matter, Motion, and Consciousness. — p. 17. 




NEW YORK: 

SAXTON AND MILES, NO. 205 BROADWAY, 

PHILADELPHIA :— JAMES M. CAMPBELL. 

BOSTON : SAXTON, PEIRCE & CO. 






Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1845, by 

J. STANLEY GRIMES, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Southern District 
of New York. 



fp 



/ 3 I 



31 ST 



CONTENTS 



SECTION I. page. 

SYXOFSIS OF ETHEROLOGY ..... 17 

SECTION II. 

HISTORY OF ETHERIUM ..... 39 

Ignorance of the Ancients concerning the causes of Ethe- 
rean Phenomena — Witchcraft — Divination — Magic — ■• 
Discoveries which led to a Scientific Knowledge of Ethe- 
ropathy — Van Helmot— -Mesmer — -His Career — D'Eslon 
— Adverse Report of the French Commissioners — Foissac 
and the Academy of Medicine — Their favorable report 
—Gall— La Place. 

SECTION III. 

NATURE OF ETHERIUM ..... 75 

Theory of Light— Of Heat— Of Electricity— Of Magnetism— 
Of Gravitation — Newton's Conjecture — Rev. Mr. Town- 
shend on the Mesmeric Medium — Sunderland's Notions 
— Animal Electricity — Experiments of Crosse — -Electric 
Fishes. 

SECTION IV. 

OXYGEN 127 

SECTION V. 

PHILOSOPHY OF SLEEP . . . . . 130 

Liebig's rror. 



VI CONTENTS. 

SECTION VI. 

ORGAN OF CONSCIOUSNESS ..... 136 

Infusoria — Immortality — Rationalism. 
SECTION VII. 

INTER-PHRENO SENSES ..... 149 

External Senses — Internal Corporeal Senses — Cousin's Cri- 
ticism upon Locke. 

SECTION VIII. 

MOTION . . . . . . . .155 

All motion communicated — Nothing originates motion but 
God — Sympathy is same motion. 

SECTION IX. 

TRIUNE SYSTEM OF PHRENOLOGY . . . .164 

Temperaments — Engraving and bust to show the location 
of the Organs — Summary of the Principles of Phrenology. 

SECTION X. 



ETHEROPATHY ...... 

Credencive Induction — Imitativeness — Credenciveness. 
SECTION XI. 

ETHEROPATHY, CONTINUED .... 

Clairvoyance. 



181 



210 



SECTION XII. 

ETHEROPATHY, CONTINUED ..... 

Abnormal Sleep—Manifestations of Uncommon Strength- 
Conferring Power on Medicine, Water, &c. — Reading Cha- 
racter — Discoveries in Phrenology and Physiology by 
Fowler, Buchanan and Sunderland. 



219 



CONTENTS. Vll 

SECTION X1I1. 

NEUROLOGY ....... 248 

Buchanan — Caldwell's Letter — Buchanan's Discoveries — 
His " Catalogue of Organs." 

SECTION XIV. 

PHRENO-MAGNETISM, PATHETISM AND HYPNOTISM . 271 

Polarity of Organs — Sunderland's Experiments and Dis- 
coveries — London Phrenological Society Meeting — Elliot- 
son's Address — Gardiner's Experiments — The Doctrines 
Denied — Reasons — Elliotson's Experiments — Lang — 
Braid. 

SECTION XV. 

COMMUNION WITH SPIRITS ..... 304 

SECTION XVI. 

ABUSES OF ETHEROPATHY ..... 309 

Immoral Induction — Local Induction. 
SECTION XVII. 

RULES FOR EXPERIMENTS ..... 314 

Credencive Experiments — Experiments during Somnambu- 
lism — Upon Diseased Persons. 

SECTION XVIII. 

INDUCTION OF BRUTE ANIMALS .... 322 

The "Charm" of Serpents — Dr. Wilson's Experiments 
upon Animals. 

APPENDIX. 

EXPRESSIONS OF OPINION 331 

Resolutions passed at Union College — Horsford's Report 
adopted by the Albany Phrenological Society — Lectures 
at Albany — Resolutions adopted, &c. — Lectures in Hud- 
son — Resolutions adopted. 



ERRATA. 

Page 40, 15th line from top, for sensation read veneration, 
" " 19th " " f 'or principals read priestesses. 
I have sometimes used the word etherium when 1 meant motions 
of etherium. 



PREFACE 



While hundreds, and perhaps thousands, are en- 
gaged in repeating old experiments, and trying* new 
ones in Mesmerism and Clairvoyance, no successful 
attempt has hitherto been made to explain the pheno- 
mena upon scientific principles, and to show their con- 
sistency with previously known truth. 

In philosophy facts are useful only as far as they 
lead to a true theory , and a theory is only a method of 
showing the true relation which exists among the facts. 

When a theory is, or seems to be, well established, 
any fact which appears to militate against it is apt to 
be disputed, or received with caution and credulity. 
For this reason mankind have been disposed to oppose 
new discoveries and innovations which render a change 
necessary in their theories, creeds, opinions or habits. 
It is not because they are unfriendly to improvement, 
but because they doubt the reality of the discovery, or 
the real practical importance and utility of the proposed 
change. It rather demonstrates their love of truth, 
for they, like St. Paul, verily believe that they are 
doing their duty by resisting the introduction of error. 
But if the new truth can be made to harmonise with 
the old opinions, it is then cordially received into the 



X PREFACE. 

family of admitted facts, which go to constitute our 
favorite theories. The facts of a science may be com- 
pared to the scattered and broken, bones of a skeleton, 
while a theory is the method by which they can be put 
together and proved to belong all of them to one ani- 
mal. 

The facts in mesmerism call to mind a collection of 
strange bones once found in England, which appar- 
ently belonged to animals of a different kind from any 
that had ever been known to exist on earth. Some 
very learned and sagacious men at first denied the 
existence of the bones ; but when they were dragged 
to light, and protruded before them so that they could 
no longer avoid acknowledging their existence, they 
declared that such enormous limbs must have a su- 
pernatural origin, and that they were undoubtedly the 
bones of fallen angels ! Upon further examination by 
scientific men, it was found that they were bones of 
whales, and other marine animals, that had been ages 
ago " in the deep bosom of the ocean buried," and 
that the place had been afterwards raised to eminence, 
like classic Delos, upon the shoulders of an ambitious 
and aspiring volcano. 

The facts in mesmerism are exceedingly numerous, 
and some of them of a most wonderful and monstrous 
character. They have been denied again and again, 
even by those who have witnessed them ; and when 
admitted to be true they have also been accounted for 
by referring them to a supernatural origin ; but the 



PREFACE. XI 

time has come when these facts should, like the facts 
in Geology, Chemistry and Astronomy, be wrested 
from the hands of superstition, mystery and quackery, 
and moulded into symmetrical forms of scientific 
beauty. This is a most difficult and laborious task, and 
any one who undertakes it may fairly claim some in- 
dulgence for the imperfections of his performance. I 
am desirous to do for mesmerism what my friends claim 
that f have done for phrenology — to reduce it to a 
scientific system. 

In the year 1834 I commenced lecturing upon 
Phrenology, but did not otherwise publish my pecu- 
liar views of this science until 1839, when my u New 
System of Phrenology" was laid before the public. 
That work contained a new classification and arrange- 
ment of the Phreno-organs, a new system of Phreno- 
Physiognomy, a new doctrine of hereditary resem- 
blance, and several newly discovered Phreno-Organs. 
That these things were not essentially new no one 
has attempted to show, but their truth was denied by 
every author who had previously committed himself 
by advocating different doctrines upon these subjects. 

Mr. George Combe had just arrived in this country 
at the time when the work was issued. It was gene- 
rally understood that the mantle of the illustrious 
Spurzheim had fallen in an especial manner upon 
him; and I was therefore desirous to receive his sanc- 
tion of the new doctrines which I had advanced. But 
before I had an opportunity to make his acquaintance; 



Xll PREFACE. 

I learned that he considered the New System as dan- 
gerous to his own personal ambition, and that on this 
ground he apposed it, not by fact or argument, but by 
his influence with his friends. He avoided mention- 
ing it in his lectures and writings, and when the sub- 
ject was urged upon his attention by some one who 
thought my doctrines correct, he seemed to be ex- 
ceedingly annoyed and irritated. Under these circum- 
stances I declined his acquaintance, and determined 
to appeal to the scientific public. I was then engaged 
in lecturing in Pittsburg, Penn.; and being informed 
by a correspondent that Mr. Combe was to lecture 
in Albany, I immediately proceeded to that city and 
gave a course of lectures, in which I stated to the 
highly respectable audience that attended, the grounds 
of the difference between the two systems. At the 
conclusion of my course I was gratified to find my 
system had made a favorable impression, the evidence 
of which may be found in the proceedings and reso- 
lutions recorded in the appendix to this work. 

I then proceeded to the city of New- York, where I 
delivered a very successful course of lectures. In the 
meantime Mr. Combe gave his lectures in Albany, and 
at their conclusion a Phrenological Society was formed, 
and Mr. Combe's collection of plaster casts of heads 
purchased for illustrations. The relative merits of 
the two systems became the subject of much discus- 
sion, and I was invited to return to Albany and repeat 
my lectures. I consented, and finding that the 



PREFACE. Xlll 

influence of Combe, Caldwell and Fowler was all 
united to create a state of public opinion unfavorable 
to what I deemed the cause of truth, I was desirous 
to provoke a discussion which would give me an op- 
portunity to vindicate myself. I therefore addressed 
a letter to the President of the Phrenological Society, 
requesting the appointment of a committee composed 
of their most competent members, to investigate and 
determine the relative merits of the two systems. The 
committee seemed to be actuated only by the spirit of 
truth; and accordingly, after a laborious investigation, 
and after corresponding with Combe, Caldwell, Has- 
kins, and other distinguished authors, they made a 
unanimous report in my favor. This report produced 
a very powerful sensation. It consists of twenty-eight 
pages, drawn up in a masterly manner by the chair- 
man, Professor E. N. Horsford, and laid before the 
Society for their consideration. Professor Dean, 
(author of several very able works on Phrenology,) 
read an argument of thirty pages in opposition to the 
report. One of his adherents read another of about 
equal length. At the same time the American Phre- 
nological Journal arrived in the city, thirteen pages 
of which were occupied with a very hostile review of 
my book, written by Dr. Caldwell, of Kentucky, a 
gentleman of great ability, and the author of several 
works upon this subject. 

Professor Horsford replied to the objections and ar- 
guments which had been adduced, and in the face of 



XIV P R F E A C E . 

the whole array of eloquence, authorities and prejudice, 
succeeded in obtaining for his report the sanction of a 
large majority of the Society, after it had been six 
months under their inspection, and the ingenuity of 
the most able critics in the country exhausted upon it. 
It is worthy of remark that when the investigation 
commenced not one of the committee approved of my 
views. 

This Report was all that I could wish. Two 
thousand copies were printed, and it was widely 
circulated. It was sent to every one who was sup- 
posed to take especial interest in the subject — but up 
to the present time no one has attempted to con- 
trovert its positions, or deny the correctness of its 
conclusions. 

If any one inquires why all phrenological authors 
and lecturers did not at once adopt this system, or 
else show its imperfections, I can only answer by re- 
ferring to the history of other improvements. Human 
nature always exhibits the same traits under similar 
circumstances. 

When the Albany Report was sent by the Chair- 
man to a periodical which professed to be a Phreno- 
logical Journal, the editor was not permitted to notice 
it, such was the hostility of the proprietor to the new 
system. I will not comment upon these facts, but 
content myself by making them known. In the 
meantime, the public generally, and all those who 
(not being themselves authors, nor the dependents 



PREFACE. XV 

of authors) , were disinterested and independent, 
without a single exception within my knowledge, 
have admitted the correctness of the Report, and the 
superiority of the new system. 

When the doctrines of Phreno-Magnetism and 
Neurology were announced, and were making con- 
verts by thousands, and multitudes of new organs 
were daily discovered by these means, so that my 
favorite science was threatened with an overwhelm- 
ing inundation, I was forced to take up. this subject 
in earnest. Almost every friend I met asked my 
opinion of the new doctrines and new organs, and 
seemed surprised at my skepticism. This has led me 
to the determination of publishing this volume, that I 
may thus at once justify myself, and vindicate what 
seem to me the true principles of phrenology. If I 
am mistaken in any of the positions which I have 
assumed, there will doubtless be enough to correct me, 
and I shall acknowledge the correction with gratitude. 
I have several times given the substance of this work 
in public lectures — and the approbation with which 
it has been received, especially at West Point and at 
Union College* far surpassed my most sanguine hopes. 
The plan which I have adopted for this work is, to 
present first a brief outline or summary of the whole, 
comprised in a few pages, and then to take up each 
important topic and treat it separately. It appears to 

* See Appendix, p. 331, 348. 



XVI PREFACE. 



me that this method will assist both the understanding 
and the memory of the reader. 

In regard to other authors, I have made use of their 
language wherever I adopted their ideas, provided I 
found them suitably expressed, and in such cases I 
have given all due credit. Wherever I differ from 
others, I have quoted their expressions sufficiently to 
do justice to their real meaning, and then freely and 
frankly given my own opinion, and exposed what ap- 
peared to me to be their errors. There has been 
so many new doctrines advanced within a short time, 
both on the subject of Phrenology and Mesmerism, 
that I must necessarily assume the office of a critic in 
speaking of the performances of others. I am aware 
that I shall be liable to the charge of arrogance ; but 
at the present time, scarcely two Phrenologians nor 
Mesmerologists can be found who agree ; any one, 
therefore, who treats upon both these subjects at once, 
with the design of producing an harmonious system, 
must seem to assume that he is wiser than l11 others, 
and capable of filling the chair of grand-master of the 
fraternity. No modesty of expression, nor respect- 
fulness of style can shield him from this imputation. 
Under these circumstances I have deemed it best to 
" speak right straight on," regardless of the apparent 
egotism, and to " utter my thoughts" with entire in- 
dependence of every thing but truth and justice. 

J. STANLEY GRIMES, 

Lansingburgh, Rensselaer Co.,N. Y. 



ETHEROLOGY; 



OR, 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF MESMERISM. 



SECTION I 



SYNOPSIS OF ETHEROLOGY. 

1. All the known phenomena of the universe may be 
referred to three general principles, viz. : matter, motion, 
and consciousness. Every thing that we know is a modifi- 
cation of one or all of these three. 

2. One portion of matter cannot influence another, nor 
can one mind influence another, but through the instrumen- 
tality of motion. 

3. One thing cannot influence another with which it is 
not in contact, unless there is some material substance ex- 
isting or passing between every portion of the space which 
separates them ; — that is, no motion can be communicated 
from one body, nor from one mind to another, unless there 
is a material connection ; — therefore, when one does influence 
another, there is necessarily a material connection, through 
the medium of which motion is communicated. 

2 



18 S Y N O P S I S . 

4. Fact. The planets influence each other and the earth. 
Fact. Philosophers agree that the (so called) ponderable 

matter of the atmosphere does not extend more than eighty- 
miles above the earth's surface. 

Fact. Heat, light, electricity, magnetism, and gravitation, 
operate in an exhausted receiver, as well as elsewhere. 

Fact. One mind sometimes influences another independ- 
ently of ordinary sensation or muscular motion, without 
contact or perceptible connection. 

Inference. There is a material substance occupying space, 
which connects the planets and the earth, and which 
communicates light, heat, electricity, gravitation, and mental 
emotion, from one body to another, and from one mind to 
another. 

Name. I shall denominate this substance Etherium. 

5. Definition. Etherium is an exceedingly subtile and elastic 
substance. Its constituent atoms are inconceivably small. 
It sometimes exists in a separate state, and sometimes it 
exists in combination with ponderable substances ; some- 
times it is comparatively at rest, and sometimes in motion. 
When it comes in contact with ponderable matter, it is 
capable of receiving or of communicating motion. 

The phenomena of heat, light, gravitation, electricity, 
magnetism, muscular motion, and mesmerism, are only the 
results of different motions and modus operandi of etherium. 

6. Motion has but two attributes, viz : quantity and direc- 
tion. The origin of motion, like the origin of matter, is be- 
yond the sphere of human knowledge. We see motion 
communicated from one thing to another, but we know not 
" whence it cometh nor whither it goeth ;" and we can never 
know, unless we can " by searching find out God." We 
only know motion by its effects upon matter, and, from ob- 
serving these effects, philosophers have discovered certain 
general rules which they denominate the laws of motion. 



SYNOPSIS. 19 

7. It is a law of motion, that when two bodies are both 
perfectly elastic, and both move in the same direction, in 
the same right line, — if one moves more rapidly, and over- 
takes and strikes the other, both will continue afterwards to 
move in the same direction with equal rapidity, the sum 
of the two motions being the same that it was before ; for 
what is lost by one is gained by the other. 

If they move with equal force from opposite directions, 
and come in contact, they will rebound, and both move in 
contrary directions with equal velocities. If one of the op- 
posing bodies is of inferior force, it will, after contact, tend 
to conform in its direction to that of the superior force, to a 
degree equal to its inferiority. 

8. If two bodies come in contact which are both destitute 
of elasticity, neither will rebound ; if the forces are unequal, 
the motion after contact will be equal to the difference ; but 
if they are equal, both will lose all tendency to continue 
their former motion. These laws of motion apply to all 
known bodies, and aid us in solving many of the operations 
of etherium ; since this substance is composed of atoms, or 
exceedingly minute elastic bodies, which move in right lines 
to produce the phenomena of light, heat, elasticity, gravita- 
tion, and mesmerism. 

9. There are two equal and antagonistic forces in nature, 
the origin of both of which is unknown. They are some- 
times denominated centripetal and centrifugal forces, some- 
times attraction and repulsion, and sometimes positive and ne- 
gative forces. These two forces being equal, balance each other 
continually, except when other forces interfere to destroy 
the balance ; — then both these forces move, though in oppo- 
site directions, until both are again antagonized and 
balanced. 

These two forces are communicated by means of etherium, 



20 SYNOPSIS. 

and all the positive and negative phenomena are produced 
by the disturbance of the balance of antagonistic columns 
of etherium. There are many reasons for concluding that 
even muscular motion and sensation are referable to this 
cause. 

10. The phenomena of sensation and muscular motion, 
both voluntary and involuntary, are produced by the mo- 
tions of etherium, communicated from certain external 
objects to certain internal organs or points in the nervous 
system, and from these points back again to the external 
objects. 

1 1 . There are two distinct classes of motions in man and 
all other animals, viz. : Voluntary and Involuntary. The 
involuntary motions are produced by currents of etherium 
communicated from the surfaces of the heart, stomach, 
and other involuntary muscular organs, to certain different 
points in the nervous system, denominated ganglions, and 
from these ganglionic points back again to the heart, stomach, 
etc. ; thus completing a circuit which exactly resembles 
that of a galvanic apparatus. 

12. The voluntary motions are produced by currents of 
etherium, communicated from different external objects to 
one point in the medulla oblongata, which point may be deno- 
minated the organ of Consciousness ; and, from that con- 
scious point, back again, through the nerves, to external 
objects, completing another circuit, which, in every essen- 
tial, is precisely like those of the involuntary system, with 
this exception, that the central point of the voluntary sys- 
tem is endowed with Consciousness, but the central points 
of the involuntary system are not so endowed. 

13. The external senses are avenues through which ethe- 
rium is permitted, constitutionally, to pass to the phreno-or- 



SYNOPSIS. 21 

gans of the brain ; and the phreno-organs are avenues through 
which the etheriuni from the senses and from the blood is 
modified and transmitted to the organ of Consciousness, and 
from thence, through the motor nerves, to the muscles ; and, 
as the muscles make some resistance, motion is the conse- 
quence. After the etherium has produced motion, it passes 
to the external world, and mingles with the general mass of 
etherium. 

14. The organ of consciousness is thus the central head- 
quarters, where all external impressions terminate, and 
whence all voluntary movements emanate. It is the start- 
ing point and termination of the circuit. 

15. In performing this circuit the motions of the ethe- 
rium are peculiarly modified in each successive avenue or 
stage through which it is obliged to pass, and this modifica- 
tion is undoubtedly regulated by the laws of motion already 
mentioned. 

First. Etherium is modified by each external object from 
which it emanates ; for there is no doubt that every object 
imparts its own peculiar characters, in some degree at least, 
to the etherium which it is continually receiving and emit- 
ting : this doctrine is a part of the modern theory of heat, 
light, and magnetism, and it applies equally to those emana- 
tions which produce sound, odor, savor, &c. 

Second. Etherium is modified again by the intervening 
medium through which it passes from external objects to 
the external organs of sense ; thus, light is refracted and 
otherwise modified in passing through air, vapor, water, 
glass, &c, so also is sound modified by the varying density, 
rarity or elasticity of the medium through which its ethe- 
rium is propagated ; and the same is true of odors and 
savors, — for all these sensations unquestionably depend upon 
currents of etherium. 



22 SYNOPSIS. 

Third. It is modified also by the structure and condition 
of the external organs of the senses through which it enters, 
— as the external eye, ear, and nose. 

Fourth. Etherium is modified by the structure and size 
and condition of the nerves through which it passes from 
the external organs of sense to the phreno-organs, — as the 
optic, the auditory, the gustatory, &c. 

Fifth. It is modified by the phreno-organs. 

Sixth. By the organ of consciousness. 

Seventh. By the nerves of motion through which it 
passes from consciousness to the muscles. 

Eighth. By the muscles. 

Ninth. By the surrounding objects to which it passes 
after it has been expended upon the muscles. All these 
different and successive avenues constitute the circuit, 

16. The phreno-organs not only modify and transmit the 
etherium which they receive from the nerves of sensation, 
but they also receive a large quantity of etherium from the 
blood, and transmit it, through consciousness, to the mus- 
cles. It would seem, indeed, that the senses merely admit 
as much etherium as will serve to excite the phreno-organs 
to discharge their accumulations through the motor nerves 
and muscles. 

17. The modification of motion which each phreno-organ 
produces in the etherium which passes through it, is pecu- 
liar to itself and different in each one from that of every 
other. This is proved by the fact that the consciousness 
produced by each organ is peculiar to itself, so that we can 
distinguish between the consciousness produced by any one 
organ, and that produced by any other. Thus, Destructive- 
ness and Cautiousness, and Kindness and Color, produce 
greatly different states of consciousness, and such as are 
easily distinguished from each other. 



SYNOPSIS. 23 

18. Consciousness is produced in the same manner in all 
other animals as in man. All animals have a central organ 
of Consciousness, but some classes of animals have a greater 
number of modifying avenues ; that is, they have a greater 
number of senses and phreno-organs, through which ethe- 
rium enters to effect consciousness. Some classes of 
animals also, have a greater number of avenues, (nerves of 
motion,) through which etherium passes from the central 
organ of Consciousness. It is this difference in the number 
and kind of avenues to and from Consciousness which is at 
the foundation of the science of Comparative Phrenology. 

19. In animals of the same class, — in man, for instance — 
the number and kind of avenues, to and from consciousness, 
is the same in every individual, except in cases of deformi- 
ty. But even in the same class, whether we compare dif- 
ferent men, or different avenues in the same man, there is 
an essential difference in the size, the capacity, the calibre, 
the condition, the strength and perfection, of the avenues to 
and from Consciousness. It is the difference in these re- 
spects which is the basis of Practical Phrenology, as applied 
to mankind. 

20. There is a class of organs or fibres, which may be 
denominated inter-phreno senses ; the office of which is to 
convey currents of etherium from the organ of conscious- 
ness to the several phreno-organs ; so that each phreno-or- 
gan may act or not, in any given case, according to the 
condition of Consciousness. 

When any phreno-organ acts, it necessarily produces con- 
sciousness before it produces muscular motion ; and, as every 
phreno-organ is in communication with Consciousness, by 
means of the inter-phreno senses, each organ will, of course, be 
excited according to the impression it receives from Con- 
sciousness . The idea may be expressed thus : Whenever Con- 



24 SYNOPSIS. 

sciousness is impressed by one phreno-organ, it radiates the 
impression to all the other phreno-organs. I do not, how- 
ever, pretend that the inter-phreno-senses have been demon- 
strated by experiment, or anatomy ; (unless the diverging 
fibres discovered by Spurzheim perform this office ;) my 
notions on this subject are founded on reason rather than 
observation. I consider them as legitimate inferences from 
admitted facts. 

21. The quantity of etherium evolved from the blood 
to carry on the operations of the constitution, is in propor- 
tion to the quantity of oxygen which combines in the lungs 
with the food from the stomach. The quantity of the 
action of any animal is in proportion to the amount of oxy- 
gen consumed. 

22. As a general proposition, the larger the lungs, com- 
pared with the stomach, in man, or any animal, ceteris pari- 
bus, the more concentrated is the food chosen, and the 
more rapid is the digestion and secretion. On the contrary, 
the smaller the lungs, compared with the stomach, the coarser 
and less concentrated is the food, and the slower it is digested. 
The reason is this : the oxygen unites with the food in defi- 
nite proportions, so that when the lungs are small and the 
stomach large, the lungs must work rapidly to supply oxy- 
gen to the food, or else the digestion will be slow. When 
the lungs are large and the stomach small, the stomach must 
work rapidly to supply food to the oxygen. 

23. If an ordinary sized stomach and lungs be supplied 
with a moderate quantity of rather coarse and unconcen- 
trated food, the etherium will be generated slowly, and the 
operations of mind and body will be moderate. But if, with 
the same lungs and stomach, a concentrated and stimulating 
kind of food be used which saturates all the oxygen which 



SYNOPSIS. 25 

the lungs can supply, the quantity of etherium generated in 
a given time will be much greater, and the operations of 
body and mind will be proportionably vigorous and ener- 
getic. 

24. The blood goes from the lungs to the heart charged 
with oxygen, and from the heart to the innumerable arte- 
rial extremities or capillaries ; and it is in passing through 
these minute capillary tubes that the chemical process takes 
place, which produces the motions of etherium on which 
life and thought depend. 

25. Etherium,evolvedby the decomposition of the blood 
in the capillaries of the brain, passes through the voluntary 
motor nerves to the voluntary muscles, producing voluntary 
motion. It enters the ganglions and passes to the invol- 
untary muscles, and produces involuntary motion. The 
blood also furnishes etherium to the muscular and other 
tissues to enable them to transmit sensations to the gang- 
lions and brain, and thus to solicit motion in return for 
sensation. 

26. The perfection and energy with which etherium is 
evolved from the blood in the capillaries, and imparted to 
the nerves, depends upon the health and condition of the 
minute structure of the capillaries in which the operation is 
performed. This again depends upon the climate, habits, 
food, health and appetite of the individual. These are cir- 
cumstances difficult to define, and still more difficult to esti- 
mate. 

27. All the etherium evolved by the blood is divided be- 
tween the voluntary and involuntary organs ; or, in other 
words, it is divided between the brain and its dependencies, 
and the ganglions and their dependencies. The share allot- 

2* 



26 SYNOPSIS. 

ted to each is in proportion to their relative quantities of 
muscular motion and functional action. 

28. The involuntary motions are continued without in- 
terruption from the commencement of life until its termina- 
tion ; in fact, they constitute life. But the voluntary mo- 
tions are suspended in man about one third of the time : in 
some classes of animals more, in others less. During this 
regular suspension of voluntary motion we are said to sleep. 

29. The reason of this suspension, or sleep, is founded 
upon economy. It is not necessary for us to keep awake 
twenty-four hours, for we can perform all our duties in less 
time ; accordingly, there is not sufficient etherium evolved 
during twenty-fourhours to supply both the voluntary and 
involuntary systems during the whole of that time. 

30. If the involuntary motions are suspended, we die. If 
the voluntary, we sleep. If both continue till the etherium 
is exhausted, we die ; as there is not sufficient etherium 
generated to supply both systems continually. 

31. The material, (carbon and hydrogen,) which combines 
with oxygen to produce motions of etherium, is all generat- 
ed and secreted by the involuntary organs, and as much is 
used by them as they need ; the surplus is expended through 
the voluntary organs, the intercommunication which exists 
between the voluntary and involuntary systems allowing of 
this arrangement. 

32. The predominant influence of the involuntary system 
which enables it thus to monopolize all the etherium during 
sleep,doubtless depends upon the superior energy of the impres- 
sions upon the involuntary senses compared with those of the 
voluntary senses ; or, in other words, upon the superior force 



SYNOPSIS. 27 

of the currents of etherium which the involuntary senses 
send to the ganglions to excite them to send motions in re- 
turn. For if the voluntary senses are impressed in an ex- 
traordinary manner, sleep is delayed and the voluntary sys- 
tem gains a temporary triumph. 

33. There is an accumulation of nutritious substance in cer- 
tain reservoirs during sleep, which is ready to combine with 
oxygen and evolve etherium when we awake. This surplus, 
accumulated during sleep, is generally equal to the deficit 
produced while awake. 

34. In order to illustrate this subject, let us consider the 
voluntary and involuntary muscles of man as two machines, 
A and B, moved by one galvanic battery (which is supplied 
with acid, made from alcohol combined with oxygen — let 
the oxygen enter by one passage, and the alcohol by another, 
and let them meet in a common passage, just as the air in 
the lungs meets the food from the stomach — so let them 
meet and unite, and form acid). Let the size and number 
of plates to the battery, and the amount of alcohol, be limit- 
ed to generate an amount of etherium equal in force to 8 lbs. 
per hour. Now let A use 6 and B 3 lbs. per hour. Let A go con- 
tinually, and B only when there is a spare surplus. Have 
the connection of A and B such, that B cannot start unless 
there is an accumulated surplus of acid, equal to 16 lbs. of 
force. Now set it in operation, and A will go continually, 
but B will alternately rest (sleep) 8 hours and move 16. 
A separate contrivance might be made to carry away the 
oxide and replace it by an equivalent of metalic paste, thus 
representing absorption and assimilation. Another contriv- 
ance could, by means of several magnets influencing B 
and causing it to increase or diminish its motion, represent 
the influence of the external world upon man. Here, then, 
we should have the representation of a galvanic animal, 



28 SYNOPSIS. 

without Consciousness ; one that sleeps regularly 8 hours 
out of 24, because there is not etherium enough generated 
to keep both its systems in operation a longer time. 

35. The manner in which one man can induct or mes- 
merise another, and the principles of Etherology involved, 
may be well illustrated by the following statement : 

If two galvanic batteries are put in operation, and brought 
into contact, they will not interfere with each other while 
their isolation is unimpaired. But if they are brought into 
communication and made to interfere, by the removal of 
the isolation, then the more powerful will overcome and 
neutralize the weaker, and send a current of etherium 
around the nerves and through both batteries. 

36. If two batteries of equal force are brought into com- 
munication, the effect will depend upon the direction of the 
two forces. If the direction is the same in both, no effect 
is observed except an increased energy of the same mo- 
tion, but if the direction is contrary they neutralize each 
other. If the two forces are unequal, so that one (C) is 
equal to ten, and another (D) to fifteen, and the directions are 
contrary when they come into collision, the ten of (C) will 
neutralise ten of (D), and the remaining five of (D) will produce 
a current through both batteries with a force equal to five. 

If the two forces are unequal, and both moving in the 
same direction, when brought into communication the two 
forces will unite and compromise so as to be equal, the 
inferior gaining, and the superior losing in the same degree, 
but the sum of the two forces remains the same. These 
laws of motion, applicable to galvanic batteries, are doubt- 
less equally operative in mesmerism and all other etherean 
manifestations. 

37. The knowledge of the laws which govern etherium 
under all circumstances, and in all its manifestations, I shall 



SYNOPSIS. 29 

venture to denominate Etherology. The doctrines concern- 
ing the agency of etherium in producing the motions 
of body and mind, in the healthful and normal state, I shall 
denominate Ethero-physiology . Etheropathy is a term 
which I shall use to include all the phenomena which are 
known to the public under the various names of Mesmer- 
ism, Animal Magnetism, Neurology, Pathetism, Hypnotism, 
Catalepsy, Somnambulism, Clairvoyance, &c. &c. 

They are all produced by motions of etherium in a de- 
ranged and abnormal state of the constitution. 

38. The organs of man may be in a normal or in an abnormal 
condition. When their operations are healthful and regular 
they are said to be normal ; when deranged or irregular they 
are said to be abnormal. This is more precise and correct 
than to use the words natural and unnatural^ or healthful 
and diseased, to express the same ideas. 

39. Etheropathy is the result of an abnormal condition 
of the constitution, a degenerated or morbid state which is 
inconsistent with a constitution sound and perfect in all its 
parts. Any rational explanation of Etheropathy or mes- 
merism must be based upon this principle, that it is in every 
case a departure from, and violation of, the ordinary laws 
of man and the designs of the Creator. In this explanation 
the distinction between the normal and abnormal conditions 
must be borne in mind continually ; the two states must 
not be confounded ; for, to explain any extraordinary 
pathological phenomena, we must first know what is the 
normal or physiological operation the derangement of 
which constitutes the abnormal operation. 

40. The diversion of etherium, from its normal and con- 
stitutional avenues, is the cause of all the phenomena of 
Etheropathy, or mesmerism ; in explaining each case, 
therefore, we may consider, 



30 SYNOPSIS. 

First, From what point is the etherium normally- 
evolved ? 

Second, Through what avenues does it normally pass, 
and what is the state of their isolation ? 

Third, To what point does it normally tend ? 

Fourth, With what force is it normally evolved ? 

Fifth, With what counter force does it normally con- 
tend? 

Sixth, When diverted from its legitimate avenues by ab- 
normal forces, what other avenues does it find ? 

Seventh, What extraordinary effects are produced by the 
derangement ? 

41. Etheropathy may be divided into Spontaneous and 
Artificial. 

Spontaneous Etheropathy is of frequent occurrence in 
medical practice, and many interesting cases of this kind 
are recorded in medical books, in which somnambulism, 
trance, clairvoyance, and, in short, all the mesmeric phe- 
nomena, have been produced by disease, and without the 
design of any human operator. 

The case of Jane C. Rider, of Springfield, in Massachu- 
setts, occurred while I was a temporary resident in that 
place. She spontaneously manifested all the powers of 
clairvoyance, in a community where no such thing had ever 
been witnessed before, and where mesmerism was unknown. 
There are many other similar cases which establish the 
fact that no human operator is necessary, but that the sub- 
ject contains within himself all the essential elements re- 
quired to produce the result. Those, therefore, who 
attribute so much potency to the will of the operator, or to 
sympathy with him, are obviously mistaken, since the same 
effects may be produced without any human operator. All 
that is necessary is, that currents of etherium should enter 
and pass through abnormal avenues ; but whether those cur- 



SYNOPSIS. 31 

rents proceed from a human operator, or from inanimate 
objects, is evidently immaterial. 

42. There are many instances of spontaneous Etheropa- 
thy, in which the peculiar condition of the subject predis- 
posed him to be thus affected, in such a way that he became 
inducted when in the company of some person who was 
utterly ignorant of his own power and agency in the opera- 
tion. The extraordinary cases of witchcraft which occur- 
red in Salem were undoubtedly of this character. 

43. Many of the phenomena of Etheropathy have been 
produced by design, after the spontaneous predisposition had 
been discovered and manifested accidentally, though neither 
the operator nor the subject was aware of the real agency 
used. This was the case of some of the Salem witches, 
and the priestesses of some of the ancient oracles ; it was true, 
also, of some of the ancient modes of healing the sick; and, 
perhaps, we may, under this enumeration, include the cases 
(if they may be believed) of one animal charming another 
by this agency. 

44. In most instances among the ancients, when men 
have been aware of the existence of this power, it has been 
attributed to the agency of supernatural beings : sometimes 
good, but generally evil, spirits have been charged with 
being the principal operators. When men have been thus 
spontaneously affected, to such a degree as to become in- 
sane, they were often said to be " possessed of a devil ;" 
and the process of curing them by exorcism, or the will and 
influence and prayers of some powerful and good man, was 
called M casting out devils." 

45. Since the time of Van Helmont and Mesmer, the 
operator and subject have both generally understood that a 



32 SYNOPSIS. 

natural and controlable agent was employed, though they 
have not been able to explain its nature. It is from these 
modern operators that it has received the names of Mesmer- 
ism, Animal Magnetism, Neurology, and Pathetism. There 
are many of these persons at present in this country, who 
believe, though I think without reason, that there is some- 
thing supernatural in many of the phenomena. 

46. Artificial Etheropathy is caused by currents of 
etherium being artificially and intentionally forced by the 
operator to act in opposition to the normal currents of the 
subject : this process has been called mesmerising, magne- 
tising, willing, charming, &c. I call it inducting or ether- 
ising. 

47. The constitution of the organs of man is such as to 
isolate them from the influence of external currents of 
etherium, and to prevent impressions being made upon 
them, excepting through certain avenues denominated 
senses ; and even through these avenues the etherium can 
only pass in a prescribed manner, which is different and 
peculiar in each of the different senses. This isolation is 
somewhat analogous to the isolation which is necessary in 
galvanic and electric machinery. 

Etheropathy is always in opposition to this organic isola- 
tion, and can only be produced by an induction sufficiently 
powerful to break through the barrier which was intended 
by the Creator to prevent the internal organs and functions 
from improper external influences. 

48. Susceptibility to mesmeric induction depends upon 
three causes. 

First, The imperfect condition of that peculiar structure 
of the organs which constitutes their isolation and protec- 
tion from the influence of external currents of etherium. 



SYNOPSIS. 33 

Second, The imperfect manner in which the etherium is 
evolved from the organs of the subject, especially from the 
capillaries of minute blood vessels. 

Third, The conformity of the subject, and the develop- 
ment of the conforming social organs of the brain, particu- 
larly the organ of Credenciveness. 

49. One of the causes of susceptibility may exist in a 
subject when the others do not, and some of the numberless 
organs in the constitution may be in a susceptible condition 
and others not. This enables us to understand why there 
is such a variety among subjects that scarcely two can be 
found who are affected alike. And when we consider that 
the organs are, from various causes, in a different condition 
at different times, we can perceive why subjects are more 
susceptible at one time than at another, and why they ex- 
hibit different results at different times. 

50. The inducting power of the operator depends upon a 
sound and vigorous body and mind, with a good develop- 
ment of the governing organs, and good judgment. Some 
have asserted that a full development of the organ of Con- 
centrativeness is necessary ; but although concentrated 
attention is useful, it is not necessary ; and, besides, I deny 
that there is any especial organ of concentration. This 
notion is exploded. 

It requires no more exertion of the will nor concentrated 
attention to induct a subject, than it does to do any thing 
else ; and it is questionable whether it is more exhausting 
than any other labor in which continued attention is re- 
quired. 

51. In explaining etherean or mesmeric induction I 
compared the operator and subject to two galvanic batteries, 
which, even though in contact, would not interfere with 
each other's operations while perfectly isolated ; but in fact 



34 SYNOPSIS. 

each man is a compound galvanic battery. He is composed 
of an immense number of galvanic batteries. Each organ of 
man is strictly an independent galvanic battery. This being 
so, each organ must be isolated from the others to prevent 
interference and confusion in the operations of so many and 
such complicated apparatuses. The importance of the 
principle of isolation will now be appreciated. 

52. Sometimes one organ of man breaks through the iso- 
lating barriers, inducts other organs, and subjects them 
unduly to its influence. Monomania is generally produced 
in this manner, by one phreno-organ being excited to such 
a degree as to overcome the isolating boundaries and in- 
ducting and modifying the functions of the other organs in 
an abnormal degree. Just as one man may induct another, 
so may one organ induct another organ in the same man ; 
but in order to do this, it must first overcome the isolation 
by the intensity of its own operations. 

53. An operator, when he attempts to induct a subject, 
will, of course, be likely to induct first those organs which 
are most susceptible ; that is, those organs that are least 
isolated ; and as he proceeds he will induct others ; but it 
seldom or never happens that he succeeds in inducting all 
the voluntary organs, and he never succeeds in inducting the 
involuntary. 

54. The involuntary organs are so perfectly isolated as to 
be very little affected ; though, in some extraordinary cases, 
the motion of the heart has been temporarily suspended. 
In most cases, the circulation is accelerated or retarded ; 
but it is doubtful whether this is not an indirect effect, pro- 
duced in consequence of the induction of the voluntary 
organs. 

55. The isolation being overcome by the operator, and 
the subject being inducted, the effects produced are various. 



SYNOPSIS. 35 

The normal currents are accelerated or retarded ; the func- 
tions excited to a wonderful degree, producing astonishing and 
incredible effects ; or else are depressed, and almost, or even 
quite, suspended. The reason of this difference is, that the 
currents of the operator's etherium may unite with those of 
the subject, and add to their intensity, power, and energy ; 
(and if the currents of the operator are uncommonly vigor- 
ous, while those of the subject are weak, the effect of the 
induction may be such as to greatly invigorate the powers 
of the subject, and rouse his nearly dormant energies to a 
high degree;) or, on the other hand, the currents of etheri- 
um from the operator may oppose the currents in the organs 
of the subject, and neutralize their effects, so as to cause 
sleep, paralysis, and insensibility. 

56. There are certain organs of man which naturally 
tend, and were designed, to make him conform to others, 
and submit to their influence. As a general fact, the first 
effects of induction are upon those conforming social organs, 
to accelerate their action, and to cause them to act as auxil- 
iaries in inducting the other susceptible organs. The con- 
forming, social propensities, (Submissiveness, Kindness, Imi- 
tativeness, and Credenciveness,) perform a part in producing 
Etheropathic phenomena, which has never heretofore been 
understood, even by phrenologians themselves. In truth, 
they do not seem to have understood the real nature of these 
important organs. 

57. Among the conforming socials, Credenciveness is the 
one which is most concerned and involved in producing 
Etheropathic effects. 

It is because this organ has been so little understood, that 
experimenters have made so many ridiculous errors, while 
they asserted and believed that they were making important 
discoveries. 

58. Not only has man certain organs which cause him 



36 SYNOPSIS. 

to be influenced by others, but there is a kind of influence, 
or stimulus, by which those organs are specifically affected. 
Every man has in his possession this stimulating influence, 
by means of which to excite the conforming socials. The 
specific stimulus which naturally influences Credenciveness, 
is assertion ; and accordingly, when a subject is inducted, an 
assertion has an influence upon him which is almost incredi- 
ble. ,He is generally disposed to oblige, to submit, to imi- 
tate, and sympathize ; and to believe anything, however ab- 
surd, even against the evidence of his senses. Tell him 
that he cannot move or speak, and he cannot ; tell him that 
ice will burn him, and it will do so. The assertion will ex- 
cite the organ of Credenciveness, and that will induct, or 
aid in inducting, the other organs. 

These experiments may be performed when the subject 
is inducted in the lowest degree. 

59. The tremulousness and twitchings of subjects, when 
first affected by the process of induction, are caused by the 
struggles of two opposing currents, one from the organs of 
the subject, and the other from the operator ; just as the 
sails of a ship tremble when the wind changes. 

60. Sympathy is when an active organ in the operator 
communicates its own motions to the corresponding organ in 
the subject, so as to make it act in a similar manner. 

61. Will, in this science, is the voluntary effort of the 
operator, which causes a motion of the etherium, and thus 
produces an effect upon the subject, 

62. Normal, or natural sleep, is caused by the currents of 
etherium between the brain and the muscles being stopped 
by the involuntary ganglionic influence. 

63. Dreaming, or partial sleep, is caused by currents of 
etherium passing in the usual way from some of the phre- 



SYNOPSIS. 37 

no-organs to Consciousness, while in others it is prevented 
by sleep. 

64. Somnambulism, or sleep walking, is the same as dream- 
ing, with this addition — that the etherium which passes to 
Consciousness continues onward to the muscles, (particularly 
those of locomotion,) with force sufficient to cause them to 
contract, and produce walking. This is often the result of 
disease, and is sometimes, (as in the case of Jane Rider,) 
accompanied with clairvoyance. 

65. Etheropathic or Mesmeric Sleep is caused by the 
etherium, on its way from external objects to Consciousness, 
being obstructed by the counter currents of the operator ; 
and thus consciousness is prevented, except at the pleasure 
of the operator. 

66. Paralysis may be partial or general. It is caused by 
normal currents of etherium from Consciousness to the 
muscles being diverted or obstructed. 

67. Trance is paralysis accompanied with sensation and 
sometimes with clairvoyance. It is a suspension of the 
powers of voluntary motion, without a suspension of sensa- 
sation. 

68. Clairvoyance, or vicarious sensation, is caused by 
currents of etherium forcing their way from external objects 
to Consciousness, through extraordinary and vicarious 
avenues, in opposition to the isolating preventives. 

69. Sympathetic Clairvoyance is a perception by the sub- 
ject of the state of the operators mind, caused by motions 
of etherium communicated from the Consciousness of the 
operator to the Consciousness of the subject. 

70. The Transfer of communication and of power from one 
operator to another is accomplished at the pleasure of the 



38 SYNOPSIS. 

first operator, and afterwards, at the pleasure of any other 
person who has been put into communication with the sub- 
ject. If the subject is sympathetically clairvoyant, the 
transfer can be made by the mere will of the operator ; if 
not, then it must be done by his language, or some sign 
which the subject would understand in his ordinary condi- 
tion. In the latter case, the will of the subject aids the 
will of the operator, and the conforming organs of the sub- 
ject act as auxiliaries to the will of the operator. 

71. Induction is the communication of motion or influ- 
ence from one thing to another by means of etherium. 

72. Self -induction is the induction of organs which is 
produced by other organs in the same individual. It is 
when one organ inducts another in the self-same person. 
This happens spontaneously in many cases of monomania, 
but it is easily produced artificially, thus ; — let the operator, 
by will, overcome the isolation, and then, by assertion, excite 
Credenciveness to an abnormal degree, and Credenciveness 
will induct any part which the operator pleases, or even 
any part which the subject believes or suspects that the 
operator desires to induct. This principle of self-induction 
has never before, to my knowledge, been announced. 

73. Most of the pretended wonderful discoveries, pub- 
lished under the names of neurology, phreno-mesmerism 
and pathetism, have originated in the ignorance of the 
operators concerning this important principle of self-induc- 
tion, or rather of Credencive induction ; and while they 
have supposed that the fingers of the operators communi- 
cated excitement to the phreno-organs, it was in reality the 
organ of Credenciveness in the subject himself which com- 
municated the excitement to the other phreno-organs of his 
own brain, and thus produced any effect, however ludi- 
crous, which the honest but misguided operator expected, 
and supposed to proceed from his fingers. 



SECTION II, 



HISTORY OF ETHERIUM. 

It is extremely curious as well as instructive, to trace the 
history and progress of the human mind in relation to ethe- 
rium and its various effects and manifestations. The exist- 
ence of light and heat, and their obvious emanation from 
the sun and other bodies, naturally led philosophers to 
inquire into their nature and laws ; but nothing definite was 
discovered, more than every savage would naturally know 
without investigation, until the inductive sciences com- 
menced their triumphant career in the 16th century. Be- 
fore this time the very existence of electricity, magnetism 
and galvanism, was unknown. It is true that the fact of 
the attraction of certain kinds of iron ore for small particles 
of iron had been noticed. It had also been discovered that 
a needle possessing the magnetic property, when left free 
to move, pointed north and south ; but this did not neces- 
sarily lead to the conclusion that an etherean fluid was 
concerned in producing the phenomenon. " Thales, one of 
the wisest of the ancient Greek sages, believed that the 
loadstone had a soul, because it had the power to move 
itself and other things." It is found, upon a careful reading 
of ancient history, that most of the phenomena of etherium 
which were observed, were ascribed to the agency of gods 
and demons ; thunder was the voice of Jupiter, and the 
dread lightning was his resistless bolt ; the aurora borealis 
was construed into a terrible manifestation of the wrath of 



40 HISTORY OF ETHERIUM. 

an offended deity ; sometimes it was said to be a sword of 
the color of blood, suspended over a doomed nation ; and, 
again, it assumed to their terrified imaginations the form of 
a destroying angel, threatening the earth with famine, pes- 
tilence and sword. 

The celebrated delphian oracle, doubtless, had its origin 
in some circumstances connected with Etheropathy or mes- 
merism ; for we are informed by historians that certain 
females having drank from a spring, the water of which had 
peculiar properties, they were immediately possessed with 
a kind of hallucination, during which they manifested won- 
derful powers of prophesy and gifts of far-sightedness. 
The numbers that consulted them were so great that a 
temple was built which became the object of universal 
veneration ; kings and generals werejguided by its counsels, 
and the fates of distant nations were decided within its 
sacred portals. To one familiarly acquainted with the ex- 
periments in Etheropathy, there can be no doubt that as far 
as the principles of this far-famed temple possessed any ex- 
traordinary knowledge or power, they were dependant upon 
the same principle that is concerned in the modern experi- 
ments in clairvoyance. It is questionable whether they 
understood the nature of the agent which they employed. 
The managers of the institution were, perhaps, themselves 
sincere in the belief that they were aided by a supernatural 
power, especially during the earliest and most successful 
period of their authority. It is certain that the multitude 
ascribed their knowledge to celestial inspiration, and paid 
their homage and tribute to the shrine with profound adora- 
tion. In every age and nation we can trace evidences of 
the unknown power of etherium. Witchcraft and sorcery 
and divination were undoubtedly different modi operandi 
of this agent. We read in Genesis of the divining cup 
being put into the sack of Benjamin. I do not know that 
we have any precise information as to the manner in which 



HISTORY OF ETHERIUM. 41 

this cup was used by the Egyptians ; but if we may be 
allowed to conjecture from the other practices of the Magi 
of that land of mystery and magic, it is easy to refer it to 
etherean principles. Their power of charming and sub- 
duing serpents, and of deluding the senses of spectators, as 
in the case recorded in Exodus of their turning rods into 
serpents, can only be explained in this manner : and though 
the superior power of Aaron in causing his rod to swallow 
up all their rods, may be ascribed to miraculous aid, it can- 
not be pretended that the power of the magicians was de- 
rived from Divine assistance, when they were acting in op- 
position to Aaron upon the same occasion. 

Witchcraft can easily be explained upon the principles of 
Etheropathy ; and all the effects produced by the witches 
of ancient or modern times can be reproduced, on any 
occasion, by an accomplished experimenter upon etherium. 
The history of king Saul renders it probable that he was 
highly susceptible to the etherean influence. The prophets 
whom he met in one of his journeys, by means of music 
and dancing, and by other means not mentioned, succeeded 
in operating upon him so far as to make him beside him- 
self; and the influence of David's harp, in driving away the 
evil spirit that troubled him, was of the same character. 
Who that compares the ancient seers with modern clairvoy- 
ants, and possessors of second-sight, can doubt that they all 
belong to the same class. 

The practice of laying hands upon the sick to heal them, 
referred to in the New TesXament, is precisely the ethero- 
pathic practice. 

The practice among some of the American Indians, when 
the medicine man, or physician, performs certain fantastic 
tricks and evolutions, to operate upon the imagination of 
the patient, and then takes the medicine himself, and actu- 
ally produces the same effect upon the patient as though 
the patient himself took the medicine, may seem in- 
3 



42 HISTORY OF ETHERIUM. 

credible ; but in some cases the same thing can be done by 
ethereans, or mesmerizers ; and the same principle is in- 
deed often brought into operation in their ordinary sympa- 
thetic experiments. The practice of laying a piece of steel 
under the pillow to prevent nightmare, though often treated 
with contempt, is but an instance of etherean practice, by 
those who are ignorant of the agency employed. It is 
highly probable that the practice of finding springs of water 
by the witch-hazel, which, though much ridiculed, is not- 
withstanding very generally practiced, and believed in by 
some intelligent men, may, in some instances, be success- 
ful, in consequence of an etherean influence, the existence 
of which has not been heretofore suspected. 

Etherium, under various forms and in various modes, 
has doubtless, in all times, excited the astonishment of men, 
by producing phenomena which (though by the lights of 
modern science easily explained, by being referred to elec- 
tricity, magnetism and mesmerism,) were once utterly in- 
explicable and mysterious. It is by no means surprising 
that men ascribed them to supernatural agency ; nor is it 
strange, that those men who had acquired some knowledge 
of the arts and practices by which the phenomena could be 
produced, were regarded with veneration, and were sup- 
posed to be endowed with celestial wisdom, and favored 
with especial aid from the dread powers of the invisible 
world. It was quite natural for the Roman soldiers, when 
they saw electric fire upon the points of their spears, during 
a thunder-storm, to believe that the gods were giving them 
the most unequivocal tokens of their approbation and de- 
termination to assist them. If, in those times, a man be- 
came acquainted with the method by which similar electric 
phenomena could be at any time produced, he could easily 
make this knowledge a means of establishing his authority 
and influence as a favorite of the gods, who could, at his 
pleasure, " call spirits from the vasty deep." 



HISTORY OF ETHERIUM. 43 

I have no doubt that, in most cases, the priests and pro- 
phets and seers and soothsayers of ancient times, were 
themselves under a delusion, and actually believed them- 
selves to possess the power which was ascribed to them by 
the multitude ; though, from the promptings of natural de- 
pravity, they may have added some impostures, to enable 
them to render their profession more influential, as well as 
more lucrative. If we admit that some of the ancient priests 
understood the art of clairvoyance and mesmerism, though 
much adulterated by superstition, we can readily understand 
the immense effect upon their own minds which it would 
produce, in swelling their self-importance, and inspiring 
them with a high notion of the dignity, sacredness and ex- 
clusiveness of their profession. We can also conceive that 
the apparent miracles which they could perform by its 
means, would give them unbounded sway over the minds 
of the ignorant masses. 

The effects produced in our own day, by the exciting 
modes of religious worship, adopted by some sects, and 
which are undoubtedly believed by them to be the work of 
the Holy Ghost, can easily be imitated, and the same effects 
produced by ethereans upon persons who are notoriously 
irreligious. I refer to the merely corporeal effects, such as 
" falling down in a trance," " losing their strength," " be- 
coming insensible and rigid," &c. How far the effects upon 
their minds can be supposed to be due to the same cause, or 
how far it is the work of God, it is not becoming in me to 
decide ; but I would respectfully suggest, that we may 
often and easily be led into the most egregious errors, by 
overlooking those laws of the human mind, through the 
operation of which one person may be subjected to the 
etherean influence of others. 

The Science of Etherology is the legitimate offspring of 
modern discoveries. Before the time of Galileo it was sup- 
posed that the atmosphere of the earth was unlimited in ex- 



44 HISTORY OF ETHERIUM. 

tent, and the fact of the pressure of the atmosphere was un- 
known. Before the discoveries of Priestly, Lavoisier and 
Dr. Black, the compound nature of atmospheric air was not 
suspected ; and the true theory of combustion and various 
other phenomena produced by the combinations of oxygen, 
were wrapped in profound mystery. Before the experi- 
ments of Gray and Wheeler, the electric fluid was unknown ; 
and when its existence was proved, it remained for Franklin 
to show that it produces lightning ; for Davy, Oersted, Am- 
pere, Seebeck, Faraday and others, to prove that it produces 
chemical attraction and decomposition, Terrestrial Magnet- 
ism, Galvanism, Voltaism and the Aurora Borealis. 

The effects of galvanism upon the dead body could not 
previously have been known, nor could we previously have 
had satisfactory analogies, by which to explain the possibility 
that the organic functions depend upon the same principle 
as the electric and magnetic phenomena. In addition to 
those already mentioned, the experiments and discoveries 
of Mesmer and Peseygur, of Gall and Spurzheim, of Cuvier, 
Bell, Marshall Hall, Reil, Humbolt, Ehrenburg, Young, 
Arago and many others, have combined to shed light upon 
this subject, as far as it relates to the nature of man and 
animals, and all have tended to lead modern scientific minds 
to the opinion that there is a subtile, all pervading and uni- 
versal fluid, or etherium, which is concerned in producing 
all phenomena ; in moving and connecting all material 
bodies, from the vast planets, seen through the telescope, 
to the most minute infusoria that can be perceived by the 
microscope. 

The ancient poets and philosophers frequently spoke of 
the ether, but they evidently referred to the atmosphere, 
which, before the sixteenth century, was supposed to be 
illimitable ; or, if by ether they meant anything else, it was 
certainly nothing analogous to the etherium which produces 
light, magnetism, &c. This is evident, from the fact, that 



HISTORY OF ETHERIUM. 45 

they called it the blue ether, and supposed that it produced 
the blue color of the sky. We must remember also, that 
they were utterly ignorant of electricity and galvanism, of 
chemistry, and of the laws of gravitation ; their ideas, 
therefore, concerning the nature of etherium were neces- 
sarily vague and superstitious. 

Van Helmont, a German philosopher, born in 1577,* was — > 

* The following extract is from the History of Mesmerism in the 
Mesmeric Magazine. 

" Among the Oriental Asiatics, mesmerism seems never to have 
been totally forgotten, and even yet there lingers among them a faint 
and dubious perception of its existence and use. 

" The Jesuit missionaries relate that in the empire of China, mes- 
merism has been practiced for many centuries, but they communi- 
cate no particulars of the mode or of the extent of its employment. 

" It is a fact, long and well known in India,that many of the fanatic devo- 
tees with whom that country abounds, are accustomed to obtain what 
they consider an ecstatic communion with the Deity, by fixing them- 
selves in a particular position, and steadfastly gazing at the end of the 
nose. They assert that if they persevere for a considerable time in 
this singular practice, they will suddenly perceive a beatific light, and 
be favored with direct and colloquial intercourse with God, though 
their conversation is tacit and inaudible to any but themselves. Mes- 
merisees, when clairvoyant, almost invariably mention a bright light, 
which they perceive before their foreheads, just above the eyebrows: 
and a very singular discovery made in the year 1841 by a surgeon 
named Braid, of Manchester, England, affords convincing proof of the 
possibility of somnambulism being voluntarily induced, even in the 
manner of the Hindoo fakirs. 

" This man found that by making a person in a sitting posture gaze 
steadfastly upon an object situated at an angle of forty-five degrees 
above the common axis of vision, congestion of the nerves and vessels 
of the eye was produced, which extended to the brain and threw the 
subject into the mesmeric condition, so far at least that total insensi- 
bility to external impressions was induced. We have repeatedly tried 
this experiment with perfect success, but could never cause clairvoy- 
ance in this manner, except in our habitual mesmerisees. 

" In Europe, however, after the overthrow of the Western Empire, 
we perceive but few traces of mesmerism, until the dawn of the new 
civilization in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Two or three 
remaikable cases seem nevertheless to have occurred during the dark 
ages, some of which fell under the observation of the learned and 
pious St. Augustine, who in his ' City of God' mentions a man who 
could perspire when he wished, and also a priest who, whenever he 
pleased, could throw himself into a peculiar kind of trance, during 
which he was as insensible as a corpse. 

"The famous Arabian philosopher and physician, Ebn-Sina or Avi 



46 HISTORY OF ETHERIUM. 

the first to advance distinctly the ideas, and introduce the 
practice, the discovery of which has since been attributed 
to Mesmer. He taught that there is a universal fluid 

cenna, who lived in the tenth and eleventh centuries, relates the case 
of a man who could at pleasure, by an exertion of his will, paralyze 
his whole frame, or throw it into what we should now term a mes- 
meric condition. 

" Jerome Cardan, of the sixteenth century, a man of genius and dis- 
crimination, and one of the first scholars of his day, states of himself 
that he possessed a capacity of abandoning his body in a sort of ecstacy 
whenever he pleased. He felt in these cases a sort of splitting of the 
heart, as if his soul was about to withdraw, the sensation spreading 
over his whole frame, like the opening of a door for the dismissal of 
its guest. His apprehension was that he was out of his body, and 
that by an energetic exertion he still retained a small hold of his cor- 
poreal figure. He also could see, when he pleased, whatever he 
desired to see, not through the force of imagination, but with his 
material organs: he saw groves, animals and orbs, as he willed. 
When he was a child he saw these things as they occurred, without 
any previous volition or anticipation that such a thing was about to 
happen. But after he had arrived at years of maturity he saw them 
only when he desired, and such things as he desired. These images 
were in perpetual succession one after another. 

" It is, however, in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, that we 
find the existence of mesmerism first acknowledged and distinctly 
announced. Many writers, the most eminent of whom were Kircher, 
Pomponatius, Van Helmont, and Sir Kenelm Digby, assumed the 
existence of an universal magnetic power, by which they attempted to 
explain the dependence and reciprocal action of bodies, in general, 
upon each other, and, in particular, the phenomena of the vital or- 
ganization. They also broadly and distinctly maintained the propo- 
sition that the will or imagination of man, when energetically called 
into action, is capable of producing certain perceptible effects upon 
the organism of other living beings, even at a considerable distance. 

"Pomponatius, a native of Mantua, and professor of Philosophy at the 
celebrated university of Padua, assumes it as a fact generally acknow- 
ledged, that there are men endowed with the faculty of curing certain 
diseases, by means of an effluence or emanation, which the force of 
their imagination directs towards the patient. ' When those,' says he 
1 who are endowed with this faculty, operate by employing the force 
of the imagination and the will, this force affects their blood and their 
spirits, which produce the intended effects by means of an evaporation 
thrown outwards.' He afterwards observes, that it is by no means 
inconceivable, that health may be communicated to a sick person, by 
the force of the imagination and the will so directed; and he compares 
this susceptibility of health to the opposite susceptibility of the infec- 
tion of disease. 

" In another passage, he enumerates the conditions of the exercise of 
this faculty, in nearly the same terms as are employed by the modern 



HISTORY OF ETHERIUM. 47 

which pervades all bodies, and by means of which certainV^ 
effects can be produced by the will of one person upon the 

mesmerisers ; and he adds, that the confidence of the patient contri- 
butes to the efficacy of the remedy. ' It is necessary,' says he, * that 
he who exercises this sort of enchantment should have great faith t a 
strong imagination, and a firm desire to cure the sickness. But these 
dispositions are not to be found equally in all men.' 

" Henry Cornelius Agrippa, the famous astrologer, chemist, and 
magician, asserted that it is possible for a man to communicate his 
thoughts to another, even at a great distance, and appeals to his own 
experience, as well as to that of others, for the truth of the fact. 

" But there is no author of that age, — observes Colquhoun, in treating 
of this subject, who appears to have so fully anticipated the modern 
discovery of mesmerism, as Van Helmont. 

" He defines mesmerism, or as he styles it, magnetism, to be ' that 
occult influence, which bodies exert over each other at a distance, 
whether by attraction or by impulsion.' The medium or vehicle of 
this influence, he designates by the name of the magnate magnum, 
which he seems to consider as an universal fluid pervading all nature. 
It is not, he continues, a corporeal substance, capable of being con- 
densed, measured, or weighed ; but an ethereal, pure, vital spirit, or 
essence, which penetrates all bodies, and acts upon the mass of the 
universe. With regard to the human frame, he conceives that the 
seat of the magnetic force is in the blood, and that it is called forth 
and directed by the will. Van Helmont occasionally gives to this 
influence the epithets of ecstatic and magical, using the latter word in 
its more favorable signification. 

" In the same treatise, the author proceeds to say that there resides in 
man a peculiar energy, which enables him by the mere force of his 
will and imagination to act at a distance, and to impress a virtue, to 
exercise an influence upon a very remote object. This power, he 
admits, is incomprehensible ; but there are other powers and agents 
in nature, which we are equally incapable of comprehending — such as 
the power of volition over the corporeal organs. The union of the 
soul and the body, too, and their reciprocal influence upon each other, 
depend upon causes which we are unable to discover. 

" But one of the most remarkable passages in this treatise is that in 
which the author explains the conditions necessary to the success of 
the magnetic treatment. ' We have already observed,' says he, 
c that all magical power lies dormant in man, and that it requires to 
be excited. This is invariably the case, if the subject upon whom we 
wish to operate, is not in the most favorable disposition ; if his inter- 
nal imagination does not abandon itself entirely to the impression 
which we wish to produce upon him ; or if he towards whom the 
action is directed, possesses more energy than he who operates. But 
when the patient is well disposed, or weak, he readily yields to the 
magnetic influence of him who operates upon him through the medium 
of bis imagination. In order to ope tc r werfully, *t is necessary to 
employ seme medium; but this medium is nothing unless accom- 
panied by the internal action.' All this — at least in its essential 



48 HISTORY OF ETHEBIUM. 

organization and mind of another ; but he combined this 
doctrine with others relating to magic, alchemy and astro- 
points — is quite coincident with the modern doctrine of animal mag- 
netism, introduced by Mesmer, and established by the numerous ex- 
periments and observations of his successors. 

" Van Helmont, and indeed most of the early writers on the subject 
of magnetism, ascribed avast and mysterious influence to the power of 
energetic and concentrated volition. 

" The will, according to Van Helmont, is the first of powers. It was 
by the will of the Almighty tbat the universe was created ; it was by 
volition that motion was originally impressed upon all objects; it is 
the will existing in man, which is the principle of all his actions. 
Volition belongs to all spiritual beings ; it is the more active and 
powerful in them, in proportion as they are disengaged from matter ; 
and the energy with which it operates without the assistance of 
organs, is the essential characteristic of pure spirits. He also remarks 
that those who exert the magnetic influence, operate more or less 
powerfully, according to the energy of the will ; and that the effects 
of their operation may be impeded by the resistance of that which is 
operated upon. A magnetiser will operate with much more certainty 
upon weak than upon robust beings ; because the power of operating 
effectually by means of volition has its limits, and he who possesses 
energy of mind can easily resist it. 

"It is quite evident, indeed, from the whole works of Van Helmont, 
that he was not only perfectly well acquainted with the magnetic in- 
fluence, but that he made use of it professionally, and placed great 
confidence in its effects. He himself, indeed, informs us, that when 
the plague was raging in the town of Brussels, he thought it his duty 
to seize the opportunity of instructing himself and of being useful to 
others. He accordingly offered his services to attend the sick ; neither 
the fatigue, nor the fear of infection, could abate his zeal, or extin- 
guish his charity. ' Perceiving,' says he, ' that most of the physi- 
cians deserted the sick, I devoted myself to their service, and Gcd 
preserved me from the contagion. All, when they saw me, seemed to 
be refreshed with hope and joy ; whilst I, supported by faith and con- 
fidence, persuaded myself that God would at length confer upon me 
the science of an adept.' 

" There appeared in England, about the middle of the seventeenth 
century, three persons, who seem to have possessed considerable mes- 
meric power, which they employed, however, only for the cure of 
diseases. These were a gardener named Levret, an Irish gentleman, 
Valentine Greatrakes, and a Dr. Streper. Their method of cure was 
altogether by manipulations, and their success was wonderful, and 
d almost incredible. 

" In the course of the next century, there appeared in Germany, a 
still more extraordinary character than either of the three who per- 
formed such wonders in England. This was John Joseph Gassner, 
who was born at Bratz, in Suabia, in 1727, and who became a Catholic 
priest. His curative powers were most amazing, especially in spas- 
modic and epileptic complaints, and were authenticated in the most 



HISTORY OF ETHERIUM. 49 

logy, which had the effect to bring both himself and his 
opinions, on this subject, into discredit with philosophers. 

The following' brief glance at the history of mesmerism, 
is principally derived from the recent work of Lang. 

About the middle of the seventeenth century, there ap- 
peared in England a certain gardener of the name of Levret, 
an Irish gentleman, Valentine Greatrakes, and a Dr. Streper, 
who professed to cure various diseases by stroking with the 
hand. The cures performed in this manner by Greatrakes 
are authenticated by the Lord Bishop of Derry, and many 
other highly respectable individuals. The Royal Society 
accounted for them by the supposition, that there existed a 
" sanative contagion in Mr. Greatrakes' body, w T hich had 
an antipathy to some particular diseases, and not to others." 
At a still later period, Gassner, a Catholic minister, a 
native of Suabia, having taken up a notion that many dis- 
eases arose from demoniacal possession, and could be cured 
by exorcism, performed a number of astonishing cures, 
especially among patients affected with spasmodic and 
epileptic complaints. Many other instances of a like cha- 
racter might be adduced, exhibiting traces of this curious 
agency ; but we come, without farther preface, to the 
individual who, in modern times, was the reviver of the 
science to which his name has been given. 

Frederick Anthony Mesmer was born in Switzerland, on 
the 23d day of May, 1734. He studied medicine at Vienna, 
where he obtained the degree of doctor, and settled as a 
physician. A marriage with a lady of fortune soon after- 
wards raised him above some of the cares which attach to 
the young medical practitioner. 

ample and irrefragable manner, by persons of high rank and irre- 
proachable character. 

" But it was reserved for Mesmer, one of the most remarkable men on 
record, to deduce and form from these scattered facts and instances, 
and from his own personal experience, the rudiments of that mighty 
and marvellous science which now bears his name, and will perpetuate 
his remembrance to the latest ages." 
3* 



50 HISTORY OF ETHERIUM. 

From an early age, Mesmer is said to have manifested 
a love of the marvellous ; and, in the year 1776, he pub- 
lished a dissertation, On the Influence of the Planets upon 
the Human Body. He assumed, that the influence operated 
by electricity ; but finding that agent inadequate to the 
solution of all the phenomena, he afterwards abandoned it 
for magnetism. In 1773, upon the suggestion of Maximilian 
Hell, professor of astronomy at Vienna, he resorted to the 
use of the magnet, which he applied in the cure of various 
diseases. Ultimately he discovered that the magnetic rods 
employed by him were powerless, and that the healing 
power, whatever it might be, was resident in himself. The 
rods were accordingly abandoned, the effects being pro- 
duced by certain passes. 

Mesmer now began to assume a mysterious demeanor ; 
and > in no small degree through his own folly, so great a 
prejudice was created against him, that in 1777 he departed 
from Vienna, and early in the following year made his ap- 
pearance in Paris. There, besides making a convert of 
Dr. D'Eslon, he performed many remarkable cures in the 
class of distinguished persons, and his fame accordingly 
spread with great rapidity throughout the gay circles of that 
city. The members of the medical profession, however, set 
themselves in resolute opposition to Mesmer, and for a time 
he retired to Spa, but afterwards, upon the persuasion of his 
friends, returned to Paris. 

A negotiation was attempted for the purchase of Mesmer's 
secret by the French Government ; but this having failed, 
the sale was carried on to private individuals at the rate of 
one hundred louis a head. It was a condition of each sale 
that secrecy should be maintained ; but this was broken 
through, and the knowledge of the facts propagated by 
Mesmer was soon widely diffused, with the disadvantage of 
having many corruptions grafted upon them according to 
the fancies of various individuals. The practice of Mesmer 



HISTORY OF ETHERIUM. 51 

savored in itself sufficiently of quackery, and some of his 
disciples seem to have followed it up in a still more foolish 
manner. 

In 1784, the French Government issued a royal mandate 
to the medical faculty of Paris, requiring them to investi- 
gate the facts and the pretensions of the new doctrine. The 
bulk of the members of this famous commission had pre- 
judged the question, and, like too many of the medical men 
of our own time, were resolved that they would not be con- 
vinced. The name of the celebrated Franklin is attached 
to the unfavorable Report that was issued, although it 
should not have been there, as he is said to have been indis- 
posed at the time, and to have given little attention to what 
took place. 

There was one commissioner who refused to concur in 
the Report adopted by his brethren. Jussieu, a physician 
of the highest eminence, who devoted great attention to 
the investigation, published a special report of his own, pre- 
senting an entirely different view, and conveying an infi- 
nitely more favorable impression of the subject. 

The blow struck by the French Commissioners did not 
entirely answer the expected purpose. The question still 
continued to excite a high degree of interest in that coun- 
try, but the breaking out of the Revolution, and the wars 
which followed that event, turned the public attention in 
other directions. 

The Marquis de Puysegur, one of the most intelligent of 
Mesmer's disciples, to whom the science is under deep ob- 
ligations, was the first to describe the state of somnambu- 
lism.* The Marquis, both at Paris and on his estate in the 
country, devoted himself with the utmost zeal to the pro- 
pagation of the science ; and the system, as improved by 
him, was introduced into Germany in 1787, through the m- 

• I believe that he was the first who discovered clairvoyance. 



52 HISTORY OF ETHERIUM. 

strumentality of the celebrated physiognomist Lavatcr. 
Journals devoted to animal magnetism were established in 
France and Germany ; and in those countries, as well as in 
Switzerland, the magnetic treatment has prevailed, more or 
less, for the last fifty years. 

Meanwhile, Mesmer had retired to his native country, 
Switzerland, and his death took place on the 5th of March, 
1815, at Meersburg, on the Lake of Constance. His last 
years were devoted to the practice of the magnetic treat- 
ment or the benefit of the poor, and he exhibited his own 
belief in its efficacy as a remedy, by submitting to the treat- 
ment in his last illness, and is said to have experienced 
from it great relief. 

Many men of the highest eminence on the Continent of 
Europe, despite the din of war around them, devoted a con- 
siderable degree of attention to Mesmerism, and in progress 
of time it began to be heard of in the works of the great 
German physiologists, Sprengel, Reil, Authenrieth and 
others — names as well known on the Continent as those of 
Harvey or Hunter in Britain. In 1817, the practice of Mes- 
merism was by law ordered to be confined to the medical 
profession in the Prussian dominions; and in 1818 the Aca- 
demy of Sciences at Berlin offered a prize of 3340 francs 
for the best treatise on Mesmerism. In Denmark, and even 
in Russia, about the same period, the subject was brought 
under investigation, and in the latter country a committee, 
appointed by the Emperor, declared it to be a most import- 
ant agent. These things could not go on without challeng- 
ing investigation in France, from whence the first report of 
a commission had emanated. 

In 1825, M. Foissac proposed to the Academie de Medi- 
cine, to produce a somnambulist, in whom the members of 
that body might witness the extraordinary phenomena 
caused by animal magnetism. The proposition gave rise to 
violent debates, which terminated in the appointment of a 



HISTORY OFETHERIUM. 53 

committee, to determine as to whether the Academie ought 
or ought not to take cognizance in the subject. The com- 
mittee decided in the affirmative, upon the following 
grounds : First, that the judgment pronounced by the 
Academie in 1784, was not founded upon reasons sufficient- 
ly conclusive ; and secondly, that the magnetism now pro- 
posed for examination, differed from the Mesmerian mag- 
netism, inasmuch as its effects were producible without 
actual contact between the magnetiser and the magnetised, 
and without the emplo}~ment of metallic rods, magnetic 
chairs, and other similar means. After strong opposition, a 
commission was appointed, composed of twelve members, 
to examine into and report upon the experiments about to 
be made. The commission pursued its investigations till 
1831, when it presented a report to the Academie, contain- 
ing an exposition of its labors, with the inferences deduced 
from them, arranged under the following heads : 

1. The effects ascribed to magnetism are null in most 
healthy individuals, and in some invalids. 

2. They are but little apparent in others. 

3. They are often produced by ennui, monotony, and the 
power of the imagination. 

4. Lastly, they are developed independently of these 
causes, very probably by the influence of magnetism alone. 

The somnambulist proposed to be presented to the Acade- 
mie by M. Foissac, who, he stated, would remove all doubt 
as to the power of magnetism, was the first person sub- 
jected to its operation before the commission. It appears, 
however, that the experiment was a failure, for the com- 
missioners say, in the report — 

" We must confess, our inexperience, our impatience, our mis- 
trust, perhaps too strongly manifested, did not permit us to observe 
any of the phenomena of somnambulism." 

It is unnecessary that I should follow the report in the 



54 HISTORY OF ETHERIUM. 

enumeration of instances illustrative of the two first heads. 
The following cases will serve to illustrate the third posi- 
tion ; it being sufficient to place the persons in situations in 
which they believed themselves magnetised, to produce 
similar phenomena :* 

" Mad'lle. L. was magnetised eleven times at the Hotel Dieu, 
within the period of a month. At the fourth sitting, somnolency, 
convulsive movements of the neck and face, with other symptoms, 
occurred. At the eleventh sitting, the magnetiser placed himself 
behind her chair, without making any signs, and without the in- 
tention of magnetising ; nevertheless, she experienced more decided 
effects than on the preceding trials. 

" An hysterical girl was magnetised several times ; at each time 
there occurred somnolency with strong convulsive actions. Being 
placed one day in the same chair, in the same place, at the same 
hour, and in the presence of the same persons, the accustomed phe- 
nomena presented themselves, though the magnetiser was absent." 

A like experiment was made on an epileptic patient with 
a similar result. 

The following is an abstract of some of the cases, from 
which the commissioners inferred, that the phenomena was 
produced by the action of magnetism alone : 

A child aged twenty-eight months, subject to epileptic 
attacks, was magnetised by M. Foissac. Almost immedi- 
ately after the beginning of the passes, it rubbed its eyes, 
leaned its head upon one of the cushions, yawned, was agi- 
tated, scratched its head and ears, and seemed to struggle 
against the tendency to sleep. 

A deaf and dumb boy, aged eighteen years, subject to epi- 
leptic attacks from a long period, was magnetised fifteen 
times ; the epileptic attacks were suspended, and only re- 
turned after an interval of eight months, which was unpre- 
cedented in the history of his disease ; he experienced be- 

* See my remarks on Credencive Induction. 



HISTORY OF ETHERIUM. 55 

sides, during the experiments, heaviness of the eye-lids, 
general torpor, the inclination to sleep, and sometimes ver- 
tigo. 

M. Itard, one of the members of the commission, who 
had previously been magnetised without any effect resulting, 
again subjected himself to the experiment, after nearly a 
year's interval, and experienced languor without sleep, a 
marked excitation of the nerves of the face, convulsive 
movements in the nose, the muscles of the face and jaws, 
an accumulation in the mouth of saliva, having a metallic 
taste — a sensation similar to that which he had experienced 
from galvanism. This phenomenon recurred on subsequent 
occasions, when he was magnetised ; the two first sittings 
produced headache, which lasted several hours, at the same 
time his habitual pains had diminished. 

After stating some instances of insensibility, during som- 
nambulism, to noises, pinching, pricking, ammonia applied 
to the nose, &c, the commissioners relate two or three cases 
where the somnambulists failed to execute the orders trans- 
mitted to them mentally by the magnetiser, of which I shall 
merely quote one. 

In Madame C, residing in the same house as the mag- 
netiser, it was proposed to exhibit the mental power pos- 
sessed by the magnetiser over the magnetised ; as also the 
communication of thoughts between them, without the in- 
tervention of speech or gesture. The proposal was accept- 
ed by the commissioners, who repaired to the house, and 
when the somnambulist was produced, gave directions in 
writing to the magnetiser, indicating the actions which they 
desired to see performed, which were to be signified men- 
tally to the somnambulist. Thus she is first ordered to go 
and sit on a stool before the piano ; she rises and looks at 
the clock ; on being apprised of her mistake, she goes into 
another room, and on being again informed of her error she 
sits down. She is next desired to raise her hand at the 



56 HISTORY OF ETHERIUM. 

same time as her magnetiser, and to lower it at the same 
time ; the two hands are raised simultaneously, but that 
of Madame C. is not raised at the same time as the mag- 
netised. The back of a watch is presented to her ; she 
mistakes the hour and the number of hands ; she is told to 
rub her forehead, but she merely extends her hands. 

The result of this and one or two other cases, rendered 
the commissioners somewhat suspicious of a previous under- 
standing between the magnetisers and the somnambulists. 
M. Dupotet offered to remove their doubts, and engaged 
to produce at will, and out of the sphere of the sight of 
those whom he would throw into somnambulism, convulsive 
movements in any part of their body, by the mere action of 
pointing towards the part which the commissioners should 
indicate. A man who had already been magnetised several 
times, was consequently thrown into somnambulism, and 
after some trials upon his obedience, M. Dupotet announced 
that the commissioners might produce the promised effects. 
M. Marc, one of them, accordingly placed himself behind 
the somnambulist, and made a sign to M. Dupotet, to pro- 
duce movements in the forefinger of the right hand, and af- 
terwards in the toes ; the somnambulist performed some 
movements, but not in the parts indicated. Similar move- 
ments, though more feeble, were subsequently made with- 
out magnetization, and the experiment was declared to be 
inconclusive. 

Mademoiselle Lemaitre, who has been already mentioned, 
when it was a question of the imagination in the production 
of magnetic phenomena, also presented this convulsive mo- 
bility, but these movements, resembling in their rapidity 
those which are felt on the approach of an electrical point, 
sometimes took place in a part to which the fingers were 
pointed, and sometimes also without the pointing of the 
fingers. They also occurred at a longer or shorter period 
after the attempt which was made to produce them ; some- 



HISTORY OF ETHERIUM. 57 

times this phenomenon was exhibited at one sitting, and did 
not appear at all in another ; the approach of the fingers to 
one part was likewise sometimes followed by convulsive 
movements in a different part. 

It was chiefly upon M. Petit, a teacher, aged thirty-two, 
that the convulsive movements have been determined with 
the greatest degree of precision, by the approach of the 
mao;netiser's fins;ers. 

" M. Dupotet, presented him to the commissioners, the 10th of 
August, 1826, stating to them that the man was very susceptible 
to somnambulic phenomena, and that while in this state, he, M. Du- 
potet, could at his pleasure, and without expressing it by word, 
produce in the parts indicated by the commissioners, evident con- 
vulsive movements, by the mere approach of his fingers to the 
parts. He was quickly somnambulised, and it was then that the 
commissioners, to obviate any suspicion of a concerted plan, placed 
in the hands of M. Dupotet, a note composed in silence, and at the 
moment in which they had stated, in writing, the parts which they 
wished to see convulsed. 

" Following these instructions, he first directed his hand towards 
the right wrist, which became affected with convulsions : he after- 
wards placed himself behind the patient, and directed his finger in 
the first instance towards the left thigh, then towards the left elbow, 
and then to the head. These three parts were almost immediately 
seized with convulsive movements. M. Dupotet next directed his 
left leg towards that of the patient, who became agitated in such a 
manner as to be near falling ; M. Dupotet then brought his foot 
near the right elbow of M. Petit, and the elbow became agitated ; 
he then carried his foot towards the left elbow and hand, and very 
strong convulsive actions took place in the whole limb. One of 
the commissioners, M. Marc, with the intention of obviating the 
slightest possibility of trickery, placed a bandage over the patient's 
eyes, and the preceding experiments were repeated, with but slight 
difference in the result. Upoathe combined and instantaneous in- 
dication of several of us, M. Dupotet directed his finger towards 
the patient's left hand ; on its approach both hands were agitated. 
We desired that the action should be directed at the same time to 



58 HISTORY OF ETHERIUM. 

both the inferior extremities ; at first the fingers were approached 
without any results; soon, however, the somnambulist moved his 
hands, retreated, and then agitated his feet. MM. Thillaye and 
Marc directed their fingers towards various parts of the body, and 
provoked some convulsive movements. Thus M. Petit always had, 
on the approach of the fingers, convulsive movements, whether his 
eyes were bandaged or not, and these movements were more de- 
cided when a metallic rod, such as a key, or the branches of spec- 
tacles, was directed towards the parts. In conclusion, the commis- 
sion, although witnesses of several cases in which this contractile 
faculty has been excited by the approach of the fingers, or of me- 
tallic rods, require further facts, in order to appreciate the phenom- 
enon, of the constancy and value of which they do not consider 
themselves sufficiently enlightened to pronounce an opinion." 

M. Petit likewise presented the phenomena of clairvoy- 
ance, or sight with the closed eyelids, though he was wrong 
in some of his statements. Thus, M. Dupotet had an- 
nounced to the commissioners that the somnambulist would 
be able to pick out from twelve coins, that which he had 
held in his hand. A five-franc piece was selected, and 
mixed with twelve others, but M. Petit took the wrong 
one ; a watch, of which the direction of the hands was al- 
tered from the actual hour of the day, was presented to 
him, and he was twice wrong in mentioning the time which 
they indicated. This was accounted for by saying that M. 
Petit had lost some of his lucidity since he had not been so 
frequently magnetized ; nevertheless, in the same sitting, 
the reporter to the commission played a game of piquet 
with him, and often tried to deceive him by announcing a 
card of one color for another, but in vain ; M. Petit played 
correctly, and knew the color of his adversary's cards. Ev- 
ery time, however, that a substance, as a sheet of paper or 
parchment was placed between the eyes and the object to 
be distinguished, M. Petit could not distinguish it. 

" If these trials had been the only ones by which we had sought 
to recognize clairvoyance, we should have concluded that the som- 



HISTORY OF ETHERIUM. 59 

nambulist did not possess it; but in the following experiment this 
faculty appeared in full evidence, and this time the success com- 
pletely verified that which M. Dupotet had announced to us. 

" After the patient had been thrown into somnambulism, and 
had exhibited some of the phenomena of muscular contraction and. 
agitation on the approach of the fingers or foot of the magnetizer, 
a bandage was placed over the eyes. Having declared, however, 
that he could not see with the bandage, it was removed, but then 
constant attention was directed to the eyelids to verify that they 
were exactly closed. For this purpose a light was held at a little 
distance from the eyes during the experiment, and several persons 
were watching him closely ; one of them, M. Ribes, even remark- 
ed, that the edges of the eyelids were so close, that the lashes of 
the upper and lower lids crossed each other. The same gentle- 
man, a member of the Academie, then presented a catalogue which 
he took out of his pocket ; the somnambulist, after some efforts 
which appeared to fatigue him, read very distinctly the words— 
Lavater, il est bien difficile de connoitre les hommes — these last 
words were in very small type. He next recognized a passport 
and a porte-d'armes, which is very like a passport : after a few in- 
stants' attention he read, De par le roi and Porte d'armes. An open 
letter was next shown him : he said he could not read it, as he did 
not understand English — the letter was in fact written in English. 
He afterwards distinguished the representation of a dog before an 
altar, on a snufT-box; and on a closed letter being presented to him, 
though he could not read it, he pointed out the direction of the 
lines of writing. On subsequently playing piquet, he handled the 
cards with the greatest exactness, and, without ever being mis- 
taken, notwithstanding attempts to deceive him were frequently 
made, by withdrawing or changing the cards ; he counted with 
surprising facility the number of points marked upon his adver- 
sary's marking-card. 

" Whilst M. Petit was playing a second game, M. Dupotet, at 
the suggestion of M. Ribes, directed from behind, his hand towards 
the patient's elbow, and the contraction formerly observed recurred. 
Then, on the proposition of M. Bourdois, he magnetised him from 
behind, at the distance of a foot, with the intention of awakening 
him. The ardor with which the somnambulist was playing, op- 



60 HISTORY OF ETHERIUM. 

posed this action, which seemed to annoy and vex him. He seve- 
ral times carried his hand to the back of his head, as if he were 
suffering ; he afterwards fell into a stupor, which seemed to be a 
light natural sleep, and on some one speaking to him in this state, 
he waked up with a start. 

" Shortly afterwards he was again magnetised, and M. Dupotet, 
desirous that not the shadow of a doubt should remain on the na- 
ture of a physical action, exerted at will on the somnambulist, pro- 
posed to put on him as many bandages as the commissioners 
pleased, and then to act upon him. In consequence, his face down 
to the nostrils was covered with several handkerchiefs ; the cavity 
formed by the prominence of the nose being filled up with gloves, 
and a black handkerchief covered the whole, falling down to his 
neck like a veil. The experiments were then repeated in various 
ways, and the same kind of movements manifested themselves in 
the parts towards which the hand or the foot were directed. After 
a game at ecarte, which the somnambulist pursued with such ardor 
that he remained insensible to the action of M. Bourdois, who 
vainly endeavored to act upon him from behind, he rose, walked 
across the room, putting aside the chairs which were in his way, 
and went to sit down at a distance from the experimenters, when 
he was awakened by M. Dupotet. When awakened, he said that 
he retained no recollection of what had occurred during his som- 
nambulism." 

I will now refer to the. cases in which the commissioners 
witnessed, besides clairvoyance, the proofs of intuition, and 
of a foresight very remarkable, as regards themselves and 
others. 

Paul Villagrand, a law student, was attacked, 25th De- 
cember, 1825, by apoplexy, with paralysis of the whole 
left side of the body ; after seventeen months of varied 
treatment pursued at home, and in a Maison de Sante, in 
the course of which period he had two fresh attacks, he 
was admitted, 8th April, 1827, in the hospital La Charite. 
Although he had experienced marked relief from the means 
employed before his admission, he still \\ alked with crutches 
without being able to lean upon the left leg. The arm of 



HISTORY OF ETHERIUM. 61 

the same side could execute some under movements, but 
he could not raise it to the head. He could hardly see 
with trie right eye, and his hearing was very bad on both 
sides. In this state he was placed under the care of M. 
Fouquier. During five months, he was bled, purged, or 
blistered, from time to time, and took the extract of nux 
vomica. The left arm acquired a little strength, the head- 
aches to which he was subject subsided, and his condition 
remained stationary till 29th August, 1S27, on which day 
he was magnetised by M. Poissac, according to the order 
and under the direction of M. Fouquier. In this first sit- 
ting he experienced a sensation of general heat and mus- 
cular twitchings. He was astonished at the inclination to 
sleep, rubbed his eyes and made useless efforts to keep 
them open. From this period the deafness and the head- 
ache disappeared. It was only at the ninth sitting that the 
sleep became complete ; on the tenth he answered by in- 
articulate signs to questions which were addressed to him. 
On a subsequent occasion he announced that he could only 
be cured with the assistance of magnetism, and prescribed 
himself sinapisms, baths of Bareges, and the continued use 
of pills of extract of nux vomica. The 25th September the 
commission repaired to La Charite, caused the patient to 
undress, and verified the circumstance that the left inferior 
extremity was much thinner than the other ; that the left 
hand pressed much less strongly than the right ; that the 
tongue, when, protruded from the mouth, was drawn to- 
wards the right commissure. On being magnetised, he 
again prescribed for himself, and added, that by pursuing 
the treatment for three days, and on being magnetised, he 
would be able, on awaking, to walk without crutches. The 
treatment was accordingly followed up, and on the stated 
day, the 25th, the commissioners arrived at the hospital. 
Paul entered the room supporting himself on his crutches, 
and was magnetised as usual. When in somnambulism, he 



62 HISTORY OF ETHERIUM. 

stated that he would return to his bed without crutches or 
support. When awakened, he asked for his crutches, but 
was answered that he did not require them, — in fact, he 
arose, supported himself upon the paralysed leg, passed 
through the crowd, which followed him, descended the 
steps of the conference-room, crossed the court-yard to the 
foot of the staircase, which, after resting himself a minute 
or two, he ascended with the assistance of an arm and the 
bannister, went to his bed without support, to the great 
astonishment of all the patients, who till then had only 
seen him fixed to his bed. From that day he did not re- 
sume his crutches. 

When again magnetised, on the 11th October, he an- 
nounced that he should be completely cured if a seton were 
established below the region of the heart. On being 
pricked with a pin on the eyelids, he evinced no sign of 
sensibility. 

The magnetic experiments in the hospital were at this 
period put a stop to by the administrative council. The 
patient, however, said he could not sufficiently praise the 
efficacy of magnetism, and was consequently removed from 
the hospital by M. Foissac, who continued the treatment in 
a private apartment. 

On the 29th of the same month, the commissioners went 
to his apartment to ascertain the progress of the cure, 
which they found materially advanced. On being somnam- 
bulised, he showed increased strength, raised M. Thillaye 
from the ground, and on being told to descend the staircase, 
abruptly quitted his chair, took the arm of M. Foissac, 
whom he left at the door, descended and ascended the steps 
two at a time with a convulsive rapidity, which, however, 
became moderated when he was told to ascend only one at 
a time. When awakened, he lost his surprising increase of 
strength : his gait was slow but assured ; he could not sup- 
port the weight of his body upon the left leg, and he tried 



HISTORY OF ETHERIUM. 63 

in vain to raise M. Foissac. It must be observed, that two 
days before this last experiment he had lost two pounds 
and a half of blood, had had blisters on his legs, a seton in 
the nape, and another on the breast. 

" You will consequently perceive with us, gentlemen," continues 
the Report, " what a prodigious increase of power magnetism had 
developed in the diseased organs, since the whole strength of the 
body had been more than quadrupled 

" Paul afterwards renounced all medical treatment, desiring that 
the remedial means should be restricted to magnetism ; and towards 
the end of the year, as he expressed the desire to be put and kept 
in somnambulism during eight days, in order that his cure should be 
complete on the 1st of January, he was magnetised on the 25th of 
December, and from that day remained in somnambulism till the . 
1st of January. During this time he was awakened for twelve 
hours at unequal intervals ; and in these brief moments of the 
waking state, he was suffered to believe that he had only been 
asleep for a few hours. During the whole time of his sleep the 
digestive functions were performed with increased activity. 

" He had beena sleep three days, when, still in somnambulism, 
accompanied by M. Foissac, he set off on foot, the 28th of Decem- 
ber, from the Rue Mondovi, and went to find M. Fouquier at the 
hospital, where he arrived at nine o'clock. He there recognized 
the patients near whom he had slept before leaving, as also the 
pupils on service, and he read with closed eyes, while a finger was 
held on each eyelid, some words which M. Fouquier showed him. 

"The 12th of January, the commissioners once more assembled 
at the house of M. Foissac, where were present M. E. De Las 
Cases, deputy ; the Count De Rumigny, aide-de-camp to the king ; 
and M. Segalas, member of the Academy. M. Foissac stated to 
us, that when Paul was in the state of somnambulism, a finger might 
be held on each of his closed eyes, and that notwithstanding the 
complete occlusion of the lids, he would distinguish the color of 
cards, would read the title of a book, and some lines in any part 
which might be opened. After a couple of minutes of magnetic 
gestures, Paul is asleep. The eyelids being held closed constantly 
and alternately by MM. Fouquier, Itard, Marc and the reporter ; a 
new pack of cards is brought, and the stamped envelope of the 



64 HISTORY OF ETHERIUM. 

government torn off; the cards are shuffled, and Paul recognizes, 
easily and successively, the king of spades, the ace of clubs, queen 
of spades, nine of clubs, seven of diamonds, queen of diamonds, 
and eight of diamonds." 

He also reads lines from a History of France, which the 
reporter had brought with him, as likewise a paper on 
which two words had been written. In all these experi- 
ments the fingers were applied on the whole of the commis- 
sure of the eyes, pressing the lid from above downwards, 
and the commissioners remarked that the globe of the eye 
had been in a constant movement of rotation, and seemed 
to direct itself towards the object submitted to vision. 

Analogous effects were repeated on subsequent occasions, 
and the commissioners remarked that — 

" The conclusions to be drawn, from this long and curious case 
are. easy ; they flow naturally from the simple exposition of the 
facts which we have related, and we enumerate them in the fol- 
lowing manner : — 1 st. A patient whom a rational medication by 
one of the first practitioners of the capital was not able to cure of 
paralysis, finds his cure in the employment of magnetism, and in 
the exactness with which the treatment is pursued, which he pre- 
scribes for himself while in somnambulism. 2d. In this state his 
strength is notably increased. 3rd. He gives us the most undenia- 
ble proof that he reads with the eyes closed. 4th. He foresees the 
period of his cure, and is cured at the time which he announced." 

The case of another patient, a journeyman hatter, aged 
twenty, born of an epileptic mother, and subject to fits of 
epilepsy five or six times a week, for ten years, is next 
given in the report. This individual predicted, while in 
somnambulism, the periods of his attacks, and when he 
would be cured ; the former predictions were verified, but 
before the term which he had fixed for his cure arrived he 
was knocked down by a cabriolet and killed. The com- 
missioners observe upon this case, — 

« We see in this instance, a young man, subject, during ten 



HISTORY OFETHERIUM. 65 

years, to attacks of epilepsy, for which he had been successively 
treated at two hospitals, and exempted from military service. 
^Magnetism acts upon him, although he is completely ignorant of 
'what is done to him : he becomes a somnambulist. The symptoms 
of his disease are ameliorated, the attacks diminish in frequency, 
his headaches and oppression disappear beneath the influence of 
magnetism ; he prescribes himself a treatment appropriated to the 
nature of his disease, and from which he promises himself a cure. 
Being magnetised without his knowing it, and from afar, he tails 
into somnambulism, and is awakened from it with the same quick- 
ness as when the magnetiser is near him. Lastly, he indicates, 
with a rare precision, one and two months before-hand, the day 
and hour at which he is to have an attack of epilepsy ; neverthe- 
less, although endowed with a foresight for attacks at so distant a 
-period, as well as for those which are never to take place, he does 
iiot foresee that in two days he will meet with a fatal accident." 

On this last circumstance the commissioners remark, that 
the previsions of the patient relate only to his attacks, that 
they are reduced to the consciousness of the organic modi- 
fications which prepare themselves and happen to him, as 
the necessary result of interior functions ; that these pre- 
visions, though more extended, are similar to those of cer- 
tain epileptics, who know from several precursory symp- 
toms that they will have an attack. They continue — 

a Let us add, that his prevision is not absolute ; that it is condi- 
tional ; since, when foretelling an attack, he stated that it would not 
take place if he were magnetised ; and, in fact, it does not take 
place, it is altogether organic — internal. Thus we can conceive 
why he did not foresee an event altogether external, viz : that chance 
should lea'd him in the way of a fiery horse, and that, in attempt- 
ing to stop it, he should receive a mortal wound." 

In the next case, the somnambulist, a female, besides the 
ordinary phenomena of somnambulism, exhibits that of 
ascertaining the symptoms of persons presented to her. 
One of these was M. Marc, one of the commissioners ; an- 
other was a dropsical young woman, with some peculiari- 
4 



66 HISTORY OF ETHERIUM. 

ties, which were indicated by the somnambulist, on touch- 
ing her, with tolerable precision : 

" It results from these observations," says the report, " 1st. That 
while in the state of somnambulism, Mademoiselle C. has pointed 
out the diseases of three persons with whom she was placed in 
relation {communication). 2d. That the declaration of the one, 
the examination which was made of the other, after thrice tapping, 
and the autopsic examination of the third, were found to accord 
with what the somnambulist had advanced. 3d. That the differ- 
ent modes of treatment which she prescribed are not beyond the 
circle of remedies which she might know, nor beyond that of the 
order of things which she might reasonably recommend ; and 4th. 
That she applied them with a kind of discernment." 

The report terminates by saying, " The commission has reported 
with impartiality that which it had seen with distrust; it has ex- 
posed methodically that which it has observed under different cir- 
cumstances, and which it has followed up with an attention as 
close as continued. It has the consciousness that the statements 
which it presents to you are the faithful expression of that which 
it has observed. The obstacles which it has met with are known 
to you ; they are partly the cause of the delay which has occurred 
in presenting the report, although it has long been in possession 
of the materials. We are, however, far from excusing ourselves, 
or from complaining of this delay, since it gives to our observa- 
tions a character of maturity and reserve which should lead you 
to confide in the facts which we have related, without the charge 
of prepossession and enthusiasm, with which you might have re- 
proached us if we had only recently collected them. We add, that 
we are far from thinking that we have seen all that is to be seen, 
and we do not pretend to lead you to admit as an axiom, that there 
is nothing positive in magnetism beyond what we mention in our 
report. Far from placing limits to this part of physiological sci- 
ence, we entertain, on the contrary, the hope that a new field is 
opened to it ; and, warranting our own observations, presenting- 
them with confidence to those who, after us, Avill occupy them- 
selves with magnetism, we restrict ourselves to drawing the fol- 
lowing conclusions, which are the necessary consequence of the 
facts, the totality of which constitutes our report. 



HISTORY OF ETHERITJM. 67 

" CONCLUSIONS. 

« 1. Contact of the thumbs or the hands, frictions or certain ges- 
tures termed passes made at a little distance from the body, are the 
means employed to place in relation, or, in other words, to trans- 
mit the action from the magnetiser to the magnetised. 

" 2. The actions, which are external and visible, are not always 
necessary, since on many occasions the will, the fixed look of the 
magnetiser, have sufficed to produce magnetic phenomena, even 
when unknown to the magnetised. 

" 3. Magnetism has acted on persons of different sex and age. 

" 4. Magnetism does not generally act upon healthy persons, 
nor does it act upon all invalids. 

" 5. Whilst persons are being magnetised, insignificant and 
transient effects sometimes occur, which, we do not ascribe to 
magnetism alone, but which may be accounted for without the in- 
tervention of a particular agent, viz. by hope or fear, expectation 
from a something new and unknown, the ennui resulting from the 
monotony of the gestures, the silence and repose observed in the 
experiments : lastly, by the imagination, which exercises so pow- 
erful an influence over some minds. 

" 6. A certain number of the effects observed have appeared to 
us to result from magnetism alone, and were not reproduced with- 
out it. These are well authenticated physiological and therapeuti- 
cal phenomena. 

" 7. The real effects produced by magnetism are very varied ; it 
agitates some, calms others, it usually accelerates the respiration 
and circulation, causes transient convulsive movements similar to 
electric shocks, a lassitude and torpor more or less profound, som- 
nolency, and, in a small number of instances, what the magnetisers 
term somnambulism. 

" 8. The existence of a special character proper to make known 
in all cases the reality of the state of somnambulism, has not been 
proved. 

" 9. It may, however, be inferred with certainty that this state 
exists, when it gives rise to the development of new faculties 
which have been designated by the name of clairvoyance, intuition, 
internal prevision ; or when it produces great changes in the phy- 
siological state, as insensibility, a sudden and considerable increase 



68 HISTORY OF ETHERIUM. 

of strength, and when this state cannot be referred to another 
cause. 

" 10. As among the effects ascribed to somnambulism there are 
some which may be simulated, so may somnambulism itself be 
simulated, and furnish charlatanism with means of deception. 

"11. Sleep, produced more or less speedily, and established in a 
degree more or less profound, is a real, but not a constant, effect of 
magnetism. 

" 12. It has been demonstrated to us, that sleep may be produced 
under circumstances in which the magnetised have not been able 
to perceive, and have been ignorant of, the means employed to oc- 
casion it. 

" 13. When a person has been already magnetised, it is not 
always necessary to have recourse to contact, or to the passes, in 
order to magnetise afresh. The look of the magnetiser, his will 
alone, has often the same influence. In this case, one cannot only 
act upon the magnetised, but throw him completely into somnam- 
bulism, and awaken him from this state without his being aware 
of it, out of his sight, at a certain distance, and through closed 
doors. 

" 14. There usually take place changes more or less remarkable 
in the perceptions and the faculties of individuals in whom som- 
nambulism is produced by magnetism. 

"15. We have not seen any person fall into somnambulism on 
being magnetised for the first time. It has sometimes been not 
until the eighth or tenth sitting that somnambulism has become 
manifest. 

" 16. We have constantly seen ordinary sleep, which is the re- 
pose of the organs of the senses, of the intellectual faculties and 
voluntary movements, precede and terminate the state of somnam- 
bulism. 

" 17. When awakened, somnambulists declare that they do not , 
recollect any of the circumstances of the state of somnambulism.* 

"18. We have seen two somnambulists distinguish with closed 
eyes the objects placed before them ; they have designated, with- 
out touching them, the color and name of cards ; they have read 

* They will recollect, if requested to do so before they are 
awakened. 



HISTORY OF ETHERIUM. 69 

words written, or lines from a book. This phenomenon has oc- 
curred even when the eyelids were kept closed by the ringers. 

"19. "We have met with two somnambulists, with the faculty 
of foreseeing acts of the organism, more or less distinct, more or 
less complicated. 

" 20. We have only met with one somnambulist who could in- 
dicate the symptoms of the disease of three persons with whom she 
was placed in relation. We had, however, made researches on a 
considerable number. 

" 21. In order to determine with justness the relation of magne- 
tism with therapeutics,* the effects must have been observed on a 
great number of individuals, and experiments should have been 
made for a long period and daily on the same diseases. This not 
having been done, the commission must restrict itself to saying that 
it has seen too few cases to be able to pronounce an opinion on 
this point. 

" 22. Some of the patients magnetised have derived no advan- 
tage, others have experienced more or less marked benefit ; viz : 
one patient, the relief of habitual pains ; another, the return of 
strength ; a third, a suspension of several months of epileptic at- 
tacks ; and a fourth, the complete cure of serious and long-stand- 
ing paralysis. 

" 23. Considered as an agent of physiological phenomena, or as 
a therapeutical means, magnetism ought to find a place within the 
sphere of medical knowledge, and consequently only medical prac- 
titioners ought to employ it, or to superintend its employment, as 
is practiced in the countries of the north. 

" 24. The commission could not verify, because it had no op- 
portunity, the other faculties which magnetism had stated to exist 
in somnambulists. But it has collected, and communicates to the 
Academie, facts sufficiently important to induce it to think thatthe 
Academie ought to encourage researches on magnetism as a very 
curious branch of psychology and natural history. 

" Certainly we dare not flatter ourselves that we shall make you 
share entirely our conviction of the reality of the phenomena which 
we have observed, and which you have neither seen, nor followed, 
nor studied with, or in opposition to us. We do not, therefore, 

* The cure of diseases, 



70 HISTORY OF ETHERIUM. 

exact from you a blind belief in all which we have reported. We 
conceive that a great part of the facts are so extraordinary, that 
you cannot grant it to us : perhaps we ourselves should have re- 
fused you our belief, if, changing places, you had come to announce 
them before this tribunal to us, who, like you at present, had seen 
nothing, observed nothing, studied nothing, followed nothing of 
them. 

" We only require that you judge us as we should have judged 
you, that is to say, that you remain perfectly convinced that 
neither the love of the wonderful, nor the desire of celebrity, nor 
any interest whatever, has influenced us in our labors. We were 
animated by motives more elevated, more worthy of you — by the 
love of science, and by the wish to justify the hopes which the 
Academie had conceived of our zeal and devotedness. 

" (Signed) Bourdois de la Motte, President ; 

FoUQUIER, GlJENEAU DE MUSST, 
GlJERSENT ITARD, LEROUX, MaRC, 

Thillaye, Husson, Reporter." 

Various theories have been from time to time promul- 
gated in explanation of the extraordinary phenomena of 
mesmerism. It was assumed by Mesmer that there was a 
reciprocal influence continually subsisting between the hea- 
venly bodies, the earth and animated nature, through the 
medium of a certain very subtile fluid pervading the whole 
universe, and capable of receiving, propagating and com- 
municating every impulse of motion. 

" The properties of matter, and of organised bodies," says Mes- 
mer, " depend upon this operative principle. The animal body ex- 
periences the alternative effects of this agent, which, by insinuating 
itself into the substance of the nerves, affects them immediately. 
The human body exhibits properties analogous to those of the 
magnet, such as polarity and inclination. The property of the 
animal body, w^hich renders it susceptible of this influence, occa- 
sioned its denomination of Animal Magnetism." 

Mr. Colquhoun, after remarking that the profound and 
interesting researches of those eminent physiologists, Reil, 



HISTORY OF ETHERIUM. 71 

Authenreith, and Humboldt, have gone far, not only to de- 
monstrate the existence of a nervous circulation, but even 
to render probable the external expansion of this circulating 
fluid, goes on to say, — 

" Were we, then, to admit the existence of this nervous fluid, of 
its sensible atmosphere, and its analogy in other respects to elec- 
tricity, it does not seem to be a very violent or unphilosophical 
hypothesis to presume that, in certain circumstances, and under 
certain conditions, it may be capable of being directed outwards, 
by the volition of one individual, with such energy as to produce 
a peculiar effect upon the organization of another. This hypothe-' 
sis, too, appears to be supported by the fact, that individuals pos- 
sessing sound health and great nervous energy, operate, in gene- 
ral, most effectually in the magnetic treatment ; and that weak and 
diseased persons are most susceptible of the magnetic influence* 
and manifest the most extraordinary phenomena.* Almost all the 
practitioners of Animal Magnetism, indeed, seem to agree in this, 
that the magnetic treatment operates principally, if not entirely, 
upon the nervous system, and particularly upon those nerves which 
are situated in the abdominal region." 

The decision of the French Commissioners of 1784, 
which is generally supposed to have been utterly hostile to 
mesmerism, was in reality principally directed against Mes- 
mer's theory of a fluid. The facts, or at least a numerous 
portion of them, were admitted, the theory being the main 
point of attack. The commissioners tell us — 

" That which we have learned, or at least that which has been 
'proved to us, in a clear and satisfactory manner, by our inquiry 
into the phenomena of mesmerism, is, that man can act upon man 
at all times, and almost at will, by striking his imagination ; that 
signs and gestures the most simple may produce the most power- 
ful effects ; that the action of man upon the imagination may be 
reduced to an art, and conducted after a certain method, when ex- 
ercised upon patients who have faith in the proceedings." 

* 1 have frequently succeeded with persons of great strength and 
vigor. 



72 HISTORY OF ETHERIUM, 

The French Commissioners explained the whole pheno- 
mena by attributing them to the power of imagination.* 1 
The celebrated Cuvier, who fully admits the truth of mes- 
merism, writes on this point, as quoted by Dr. Elliotson in 
his Human Physiology, — 

" We must confess that it is very difficult, in the experiments 
which have for their object the action which the nervous systems 
of two different individuals can exercise one upon another, to dis- 
tinguish the effects of the imagination of the individual upon whom 
the experiment is tried, from the physical result produced by the 
person who acts for him. The effects, however, on persons igno- 
rant of the agency, and upon individuals whom the operation itself 
has deprived of consciousness, and those which animals present, 
do not permit us to doubt that the proximity of two animated 
bodies in certain positions, combined with certain movements, have 
a real effect, independently of all participation of the fancy. It ap- 
pears also clearly, that these effects arise from some nervous com- 
munication which is established between their nervous systems.'* 

Dr. Gall admits this power, and even does not reject the 
hypothesis of its connection with a fluid. 

" How often," says he, " in intoxication, hysterical and hypo- 
chondriacal attacks, convulsions, fever, and insanity, under violent 
emotions, after long fasting, through the effect of such poisons as 
opium, hemlock or belladonna, are we not, in some measure, 
transferred into perfectly different beings — for instance, into 
poets, actors, &c. — just as in dreaming, the thoughts frequent- 
ly have more delicacy, and the sensations are more acute, and 
we can hear and answer ; just as, in ordinary somnambulism, 
we can rise, walk, see, touch with the hands, &c. ; so we allow 
that similar phenomena may take place in artificial somnambulism, 
and even in a higher degree. We acknowledge a fluid which 
has an especial affinity with the nervous system, which can ema- 
nate from an individual, pass into another, and accumulate, in vir- 
tue of particular affinities, more in certain parts than in others. 

• In another part of this work I have shown that even credencive 
imagination is the result of physical causes. 



HISTORY OF ETHERIUM. 73 

We admit the existence of a fluid, the subtraction of which less- 
ens, and the accumulation augments, the power of the nerves J 
which places one part of the nervous system in repose, and height- 
ens the activity of another, which, therefore, may produce an arti- 
ficial somnambulism." 

A rigid mathematician, La Place, observes, that 

" Of all the instruments which we can employ, in order to enable 
us to discover the imperceptible agents of nature, the nerves are 
the most sensible, especially when their sensibility is exalted by 
particular causes. It is by means of them that we have discovered 
the slight electricity which is developed by the contact^ of two hete- 
rogeneous metals. The 'singular phenomena which result from the 
external sensibility of the nerves in particular individuals, have 
given birth to various opinions relative to the existence of a new 
agent, which has been denominated animal magnetism, to the ac- 
tion of the common magnetism, to the influence of the sun and 
moon in some nervous affections ; and, lastly, to the impressions 
which may be experienced from the proximity of the metals, or of 
a running water. It is natural to suppose that the action of these 
causes is very feeble, and that it may be easily disturbed by acci- 
dental circumstances ; but, because, in some cases, it has not been 
manifested at all, we are not to conclude it has no existence. We 
are so far from being acquainted with all the agents of nature, and 
their different modes of action, that it would be quite unphiJosophi- 
cal to deny the existence of the phenomena, merely because they 
are inexplicable in the present state of our knowledge." 

Dr. Elliotson gives his own opinion in these words : 

" I have no hesitation in declaring my conviction that the facts 
of mesmerism which I admit, because they are not contrary to es- 
tablished morbid phenomena, result from a specific power. Even 
they are sometimes unreal and feigned, and, when real, are some- 
times the result of emotion — of imagination, to use common lan- 
guage ; but, that they may be real and independent of all imagina- 
\ tion, I have seen quite sufficient to convince me." 

And after giving the particulars of some cases, be . thus 
proceeds : 



74 HISTORY OF ETHKRIUM. 

" These are the phenomena which 1 have witnessed. To ascribe 
them to emotion and fancy, to suppose collusion and deception, 
would be absurd. They must be ascribed to a peculiar power ; to 
a power acting, as I have no doubt, constantly in all living things, 
vegetable and animal, but shown in a peculiar manner by the pro- 
cesses of mesmerism." 

The history of mesmerism in this country is essentially 
similar to that in Europe, the principal difference being in 
the names of the persons concerned. There has been the 
same enthusiasm, credulity and superstition in its favor, 
and the same haughty contempt or sneering skepticism 
opposed to its pretensions ; while those best qualified for 
its investigation, have deemed it unworthy of their serious 
and continued attention. 



SECTION III 



NATURE OF ETHERIUM. 

Having given a general and brief view of the history of 
Etherium, as manifested in the form of Etheropathy or mes- 
merism, it will be perceived that the doctrine of a univer- 
sal fluid, as the agent concerned in producing the effects, 
is supported by every distinguished operator and author 
from the time of Van-Helmont to the present . 

The received Theory of Light is, that it depends upon 
the undulations of a universal fluid, it is found impossible 
otherwise to account for the facts which are known upon 
the subject. The theory of Newton, that " Light is an 
emanation of particles moving in straight lines with in- 
credible velocity," is now exploded ; and the undulatory 
theory of Huygens receives the sanction of modern phi- 
losophers with very few exceptions. Light, is not, by the 
greatest philosophers, now considered a material substance 
in itself, but the vibration — the pulsation- — the undulation 
— the peculiar wave-like motion of a material ocean of 
universal etherium, just as sound is a motion of the air. 
If you suspend a ball in the centre of a pool of water, and 
then cause the ball to revolve so as to disturb the surface, 
there will be a regular succession of waves which will, one 
after the other reach the shore, and each make an impres- 
sion upon the various objects which constitute the bounds 
of the pool. In a similar manner, the sun, and every other 
body from which light emanates, disturbs the ocean of 



76 NATURE OF ETHERIUM. 

etherium, and produces a regular succession of waves, 
which, on striking the optic nerve, communicates or in- 
ducts its own peculiar motions, which motions are con- 
tinued along the nerve to the phreno-organ of color, and 
from that organ to the organ of Conciousness, thus pro- 
ducing the conciousness which we acquire of the color of 
different objects. 

The different colors of objects are owing to the differ- 
ent degrees of rapidity with which the waves of etherium 
are propagated. 

* To prevent my unscientific readers from suspecting the 
accuracy of these statements in regard to the received 
theory of light, I will take the liberty to quote, from the 
Lectures of Dr. Lardner, a few extracts relating to this 
subject : — 

" The sun or a lamp acting on this asther, as it is called, puts it 
into a state of pulsation ; the vibrations passing through it as those 
of sound through the air. This pulsation is propagated to the 
eye — reaches the retina, and puts that delicate membrane into a 
state of tremulous motion which is the proximate cause of the im- 
pression of light produced in the mind, It has been, moreover, 
discovered by modern science, that the varying rapidity of these 
vibrations is the cause of the difference in the colors of the spec- 
trum : and what is still more remarkable, these vibrations have 
been subjected to admeasurement. The various colors, blue, green, 
&c, are nothing more than the effects of the different rates of pulsa- 
tion imparted to the retina at the back of the eye-ball. A ray of 
vibration enters the chamber of the eye through the pupil — a small 
black spot in the centre of every eye, which is merely an aperture 
through which a rod might be thrust — and causes the retina to vi- 
brate at different rates. Science has discovered a method of com- 
puting the rate at which this membrane pulsates ; and the number 
of vibrations per second, when the sensation of redness is produced, 
and so for the other colors. There would be nothing extraordi- 
nary in this if this was any ordinary rate, as for instance, fifty 
times in a second. But when I tell you that the number of vibra- 
tions for one color is six hundred millions per second, seven hun- 



NATURE OF ETHERIUM. 77 

dred millions each second for another, and that it is never less 
than six nor more than nine hundred millions — when I tell you 
that modern science has estimated this with close accuracy, you 
will admit that it has accomplished what approaches very near to 
the miraculous. 

" These ohservations have been suggested by reference to the fal- 
lacies into which we are led by the senses — and this is especially 
applicable to the impressions of the different colors ; for the truth 
is, that probably no two persons receive precisely the same im- 
pression from the same color. There are numberless instances of 
different impressions made upon different individuals, and nothing 
is more common than an inability to distinguish between green and 
blue. There are hundreds of persons who are never able to distin- 
guish by their colors the cherries upon a tree from its leaves. The 
celebrated Dugald Stewart, the well known chemist, Dalton, 
and many other names, probably familiar to you all, might be men- 
tioned of persons who were unable to distinguish the different 
colors. 

" By a little management we may be able to see bodies that do 
not exist, and if we take the evidence of the senses on these points, 
we should be led to believe in all sorts of spectres — the effect of 
factitious vibrations produced by various causes. It would require 
weeks to enumerate all the exhibitions of this deception ; but I 
will mention one or two which may amuse, and at the same time 
be instructive. " Take a stick of red sealing wax and place it be- 
tween the eye and a sheet of white paper ; after keeping the eye 
steadily fixed upon the wax for a short time, look beside it, and 
you will see a stick of blue wax as distinctly as you perceive the 
real wax. In this way a succession of spectra may be produced. 
Thus, by looking steadily at a red wafer for a short time, you will 
be able to see beside it the ghost of a blue wafer ; and conversely 
a blue wafer will give birth to the ghost of a red one — these two 
colors being correlative to each other ; the retina, by the action of 
the one, is put into a state of morbid vibration by which the effect 
is produced. It is explicable by supposing that when the retina is 
put into a state of pulsation, its motions continue for a short time, 
just as a bell continues to ring for some seconds after it is struck. 

" A wish has been expressed that I should explain more fully a 
circumstance to which I alluded, briefly, in a former lecture ; name- 



78 NATURE OF ETHERIUM. 

Iy — the effect produced on the retina of the eye by light. I ex- 
plained the principle of light, as established by modern physics, 
and the impression of the different colors upon the retina. The 
physical principle on which light depends, was, for a long while, 
and is still, in dispute among philosophers. One sect maintains 
that light is a physical emanation from a luminous body, which 
passes through space at the rate of 200,000 miles in a second, 
reaches the eye, affects the retina, and produces an impression in 
the mind. They hold that the white light of the sun is composed 
of particles of different kinds, each producing the notion of a dif- 
ferent color. This theory has been in dispute, and is found to be 
insufficient for the explanation of certain phenomena, discovered 
by modern science. This theory, however, was maintained by 
Newton. 

" Another theory, which is now generally received, is this : It 
supposes that the whole universe is filled with a fluid called (Ether, 
extremely subtile and elastic ; and that the luminous body produces 
the effect, by imparting to this aether a certain pulsation, precisely 
similar to that of sound, to which I have already referred. These 
vibrations are supposed to be transmitted to the eye, with the ve- 
locity already mentioned. Having entered the eye, it causes the 
retina to vibrate, just as does the ear-drum in hearing, only these 
pulsations are infinitely more rapid and delicate than those of sound. 
This theory maintains that the colors of the spectrum, — as red, 
orange, blue, &c, — are nothing more than the effects of greater or 
less rapidity of vibration. If the retina pulsates at one rate, red 
will be seen; if at another, blue, &c. This is the general outline 
of the theory now generally received, in reference to the Corpuscu- 
lar theory, which was held by Newton, but which is insufficient 
to explain many of the phenomena observed, which the undulating 
theory perfectly accounts for. What all these phenomena are, I 
cannot explain in full; I will, however, mention one of them, 
which is among the most remarkable. 

" If two beams of light be admitted through small apertures in 
a screen, and be made to cross each other, under certain circum- 
stances, so that they fall upon the same point, you would naturally 
expect that that point would be twice as light as if but one beam 
fell upon it. According to the Corpuscular theory, which holds 



NATURE OF ETHERIUM. 79 

light to be a material substance, the more of it there was accumu- 
lated upon any point, the greater would be its illumination. But 
it has been shown by modern science, that, instead of this result, 
the two beams destroy each other, and a black spot is observed at 
the point of intersection. If either of the beams be intercepted, 
the spot becomes luminous ; but if both be allowed to fall upon it 
together, it becomes black : either of the two will illuminate it — 
both together produce darkness. Now the Corpuscular theory 
fails to account for this phenomenon ; but it is clearly explained by 
the theory of an undulating medium. I can only give the expla- 
nation in a general way, as thus : It is necessary to show that it is 
possible for two systems of waves to obliterate each other, in 
order to the explanation ; for if the presence of waves is essential 
to illumination, any thing which destroys them must produce dark- 
ness. Now if we suppose two systems of waves propagated along 
the surface of a pond, we may easily imagine that the crests of one 
system shall fall directly in the hollows of the other — and we 
should thus have a surface perfectly smooth. This is what hap- 
pens in this case. The two beams, every time they come together, 
cause two systems of waves, of which the crests of one fall into the 
hollows of the other, and the aether is in the same state as if there 
were no waves at all. Of course, according to this theory, there 
can be no light. But if we make the slightest change in the beams, 
so that the crests of one system of waves shall be out of the hol- 
lows, the spot will be instantly illuminated. 

" Now it is known that light moves at the rate of 200,000 miles 
in a second of time. During every second, then, a beam of light 
200,000 miles in length enters the eye. And, as has just been 
shown, for every inch of that beam there are 40,000 waves, or 
pulsations, for red light, and a certain known number for the other 
colors. And now can you not see how we are able to determine 
the number of vibrations on the retina ? All that is necessary is, 
to find how many inches there are in the beam which enters the 
eye in a single second ; multiply that number by the number of 
waves in a single inch for each color, and you have at once the 
number of vibrations." 

Heat. The received theory of Heat is, that it is but 



80 NATURE OF ETHERIUM. 

another peculiar motion of the same etherial ocean, the un- 
dulations of which produce light 

Mr. Duncan Bradford in his " Wonders of the Heavens," 
says :— 

" It has lately been discovered, that the rays of light, and the rays 
of heat, or caloric, are distinct from each other; for it can be de- 
monstrated that some rays from the sun produce heat which have 
no power of communicating light or color. The greatest heat is 
found in the red rays, the least in the violet rays ; and in a space 
(in the solar spectrum) beyond the red rays, where there is no 
light, the temperature is the greatest. The rays of the sun have 
also been found to produce different chemical effects. The white 
muriate of silver is blackened in the violet ray, in the space of 
fifteen seconds, though the red ray will not produce the same 
effect in less than twenty minutes. Phosphorus is kindled in the 
vicinity of the red ray, and extinguished in the vicinity of the 
viclet. The solar light, therefore, consists of three different orders 
of rays, one producing color, a second producing heat, and a third 
chemical effects. 

" The sun's rays are the ultimate source of almost every motion 
which takes place on the surface of the earth. By its heat are 
produced all winds, and those disturbances in the electric equilib- 
rium of the atmosphere which give rise to the phenomena of 
terrestrial magnetism. By their vivifying action, vegetables are 
elaborated from organic matter, and become, in their turn, the sup- 
port of animals and of man, and the sources of these great de- 
posits of dynamical efficiency which are laid up for human use in 
our coal strata. By them the waters of the sea are made to cir- 
culate in vapor through the air, and irrigate the land, producing 
springs and rivers. By them are produced all disturbances of the 
chemical equilibrium of the elements of nature, which, by a series 
of compositions and decompositions, give rise to new products, 
and originate a transfer of materials. Even the slow degradation 
of the solid constituents of the surface in which its chief geological 
changes consist, and their diffusion among the waters of the ocean 
are entirely due to the abrasion of the winds and rains, and the 
alternate action of the season. And when we consider the im- 
mense transfer of matter so produced, the increase of pressure over 



NATURE OF ETHERIUM. 81 

large spaces in the bed of the ocean, and the diminution over cor- 
responding portions of the land, we are not at a loss to perceive 
how the elastic power of subterranean fires, thus repressed on the 
one hand, and relieved on the other, may break forth in points 
where the resistance is barely adequate to their retention, and 
thus bring the phenomena of even volcanic electricity under the 
general law of solar influence. The great mystery, however, is 
to conceive how so enormous a conflagration (if such it be) can be 
kept up. Every discovery in chemical science leaves us com- 
pletely at a loss, or rather seems to remove farther the prospect of 
probable explanation. 

M The opacity of the interior of the globe of the sun is no reason 
why it may not act a part in the production or preservation of the 
solar heat ; on the contrary, it appears highly probable and con- 
sistent with the discoveries, that the dark solid nucleus of the sun 
is the magazine from which its heat is discharged, while the lumi- 
nous or phosphorescent mantle which the heat freely pervades is 
the region where its light is generated. Herschel's own experi- 
ments assure us, that invisible rays, which have the power of 
heating, and which are totally distinct from those which produce 
light, are actually emitted from the sun ; and that luminous rays, 
incapable of producing heat, are discharged from the same source. 
These facts, therefore, not only confirm the theory which we have 
stated, but receive in return from that theory the most satisfactory 
explanation. The invisible rays which pervade every part of the 
solar spectrum formed by a prism, and which extend beyond its 
red extremity are emitted from the opaque nucleus, and therefore 
excite no sensation of light on the human retina; while the colored 
rays, which form the spectrum itself, are discharged from the 
luminous matter that encircles the solid nucleus, and are therefore 
endowed with the properties of illumination. Hence it is easy to 
assign the reason why the light and heat of the sun are apparently 
always in a state of combination, and why the one emanation 
cannot be obtained without the other. The heat projected from 
the dark body, and the light emitted from the luminous atmos- 
phere, are thrown off in lines diverging in every possible direction; 
so that the two radiations must be uniformly intermingled, and, as 
in a stream flowing from two contiguous sources, the heat must 
always accompany its kindred element. We find the invisible 



82 NATURE OF ETHERIUM. 

heat of the sun existing; separately from its light, and possessing a 
degree of refrangibility less than the least refrangible rays of the 
prismatic spectrum. Light has likewise been found separate from 
heat, and though it may be imagined that this arises from the 
extreme tenuity of the light, yet, when the light of the moon is 
concentrated by powerful burning mirrors, we ought certainly to 
have expected that the heat, if any did exist, would be appreciable 
by delicate thermometers. Every attempt, however, to detect heat 
in the rays of the moon has completely failed, and we are entitled 
to presume that a greater proportion of heat than of light has been 
absorbed by that luminary. If light and heat, then, be two differ- 
ent substances, endowed with different chemical and physical pro- 
perties, is it not unphilosophical to suppose that they are emitted 
from the same source, when we have actually two different regions 
in the sun, to which we can, with more propriety, refer their 
origin ?" 

These notions of Mr. Bradford are not inconsistent with 
the idea that heat, though it may originate in a different part 
of the sun, is but a different motion of the same substance as 
light. That motion of etherium which constitutes heat, 
may proceed from the internal parts of bodies, while that 
motion which constitutes light may proceed from the sur- 
face merely. 

Prof. Faraday, in a lecture delivered at the Royal Insti- 
tute, June 1st, 1844, makes the following interesting re- 
marks, which forcibly illustrate the idea that the motions 
of etherium may be modified to produce different kinds of 
heat as well as different kinds of light, and different kinds 
of electricity. He remarks, (I quote from The Civil En- 
gineer and Architects Journal) : 

" When light falls on a polished opaque substance, it is reflected 
from it, or thrown off in an opposite direction, the angle of reflec- 
tion being always equal to the angle at which it falls on the sur- 
face. If the body is transparent, the greater part of the light passes 
through it, and if the light falls angular on it, it is refracted, or 
bent from its course, and when the transparent substance is prism- 



NATURE OF ETHERIUM. 83 

shaped, the light is thrown completely in another direction. Such 
substances as ice and glass allow light to pass through, and refract 
iti but polished metals reflect, and do not allow it to pass. The 
same facts have been observed with respect to heat, and although 
it cannot be seen in its passage, its transfer can be proved. When 
the hand is held towards a fire, a heat is felt, which is due to its 
being radiated, or thrown equally, as from a centre, in all direc- 
tions. The effects of radiated heat may be watched by using a 
red-hot ball, which will be found to give off' heat equally in all di- 
rections, and will readily light a piece of phosphorous placed at a 
great distance below it. A flat mirror, held in the path of the rays 
of heat, will reflect them, and the rays may thus be thrown on any 
required spot. If, instead of one mirror, three hundred or four hun- 
dred are employed, and so placed that the heat reflected from each 
should fall on the same spot, the effect of course is greatly aug- 
mented. A concave mirror may be considered as such an assem- 
blage of myriads of flat mirrors, and its focus as the spot where 
their reflected heat is accumulated. With two parabolic reflectors, 
the effects of radiated and accumulated heat are very striking. A 
red-hot ball placed in the focus of one will fire combustibles held 
in the focus of the other, though they may be far apart, and ice 
produces in a similar manner, cooling effects. 

" The rays of heat and light are not hot, and it is an error in 
thought and word to call them so. The rays of heat are hcaliiig 
rays, but not hot rays. This is beautifully illustrated by the ex- 
periments of Melloni, who found that various transparent sub- 
stances allowed heat to pass through them in various proportions ; 
that those bodies that allow it to pass freely through them do not 
become heated, and that those that stop the rays become heated ex- 
actly in that proportion. He placed a red-hot ball on a stand, and 
the two substances he wished to compare on opposite sides of it, 
and by a frame prevented any heat from passing excepting through 
the two bodies : beyond these he placed two pieces of metal with 
phosphorous on them, and by comparing the time it took to fire 
the phosphorous, he learnt the comparative freedom with which 
heat passed through the bodies experimented on. Through a piece 
of rock salt the heat passed with facility, but through glass it 
scarcely passed at all. Passing through the salt, it leaves it cold, 
but being stopped by the glass it makes it hot, thereby proving 



84 NATURE OF ETHERIUM. 

that when as rays it is not hot, hut only when stopped, and then 
they lose their character as rays. In the same manner the rays 
from a luminous body are not light, until stopped by a solid body. 
If they were, the light from the sun should be seen passing through 
space to the planets or to the moon, but they give no light until 
stopped by them, and therefore are invisible. 

"When reflectors are used with the sun's rays, of course, both 
the light and heat are reflected. Wood or paper held in the focus" 
of a large reflector, are immediately fired by the sun's heat. The 
course of the rays traveling from the reflector to its focus, is made 
beautifully evident by holding a smoking piece of paper under- 
neath. 

" The rays of heat passed through a lense, are conveyed in a 
similar manner by refraction to a focus, but in this case the focus 
is on the opposite side to the source of heat. With the action of a 
burning-glass every one is familiar, but it will now be seen that 
the property of refracting to a centre does not depend upon the na- 
ture of the body, but upon its transparency and shape ; for ice, if 
melted in a hot tin mould until it is lense-shaped, acts equally well 
with glass. By it the sun's rays may be concentrated so as to burn 
paper and other combustibles, and yet the ice does not become 
melted. This could not be done with common heat, for instance, 
that from a fire, as ice will not allow its rays to pass, and stopping 
them, becomes melted. In Melloni's experiments on this subject 
he found that there were different kinds of rays of heat, just the 
same as there are different colored rays of light, and that these rays 
were mixed in various proportions according to the source from 
whence they emanated. Thus some will pass through ice and 
salt, and not through glass. The rays of heat from the sun pass 
through almost every substance, whilst those from a common fire 
are stopped to a certain extent by almost every thing, and the sub- 
stances themselves become heated. That no heat is produced until 
the rays are stopped, is seen by passing the sun's rays concentrated 
by a lense through a glass tube filled with ether, when no effect is 
produced ; but put into it something which will stop the rays, such 
as a piece of black paper, and the ether is seen to boil immediate- 
ly. The great effects produced by concentrating the sun's rays 
from a few feet on to one spot, give's a great idea of the immense 
quantity of heat which is continually being poured on this earth, 



NATURE OF ETHERIUM. 85 

and of the fearful effects were this heat withheld but for one sea- 
son. These rays are not obstructed by the glass of the window, 
but allow it to pass on to carpets, &c, and heat them, but were 
they the same rays as from a fire, the effect would be very different. 

" The reception and emission of heat, though depending princi- 
pally on the nature of the body, is found to be very greatly influ- 
enced by the state and texture of the surface. Of two radiating 
bodies, for instance, tin canisters filled with hot water, one black- 
ened or roughened on the surface will be found to get cold sooner 
than that which is left bright, one appearing like a good conductor, 
the other like a bad one, though the only difference is in the state 
of the surface ; or the experiment may be varied by black-washing 
or white-washing only one side of the vessel ; a thermometer will 
then indicate more heat being given off from that side than from the 
others. In the same way the reception of heat is affected by sur- 
face, those absorbing the best which radiate the best. The appli- 
cation of this principle to useful purposes is carried out to a great 
extent ; for steam engines, and boilers, which are required to re- 
tain the heat, are kept bright, whilst those from which the heat is 
required to be delivered, as in warming buildings by hot water 
pipes, the surface is kept rough. In domestic economy the china 
teapot is now superseded by polished metal, which is found to 
keep the infusion hotter, and a difference even would be found 
whether a silver teapot were kept clean or dirty. Every substance 
is continually radiating heat to any other body near it which is 
colder than itself, and ice, even, will send out radiant heat to solid 
carbonic acid. The emissive power is not always in proportion to 
the amount of heat, for the flame of a candle, though consisting of 
particles far hotter than a red-hot iron ball, does not radiate nearly 
so much heat as the latter. The power of a bright reflective sur- 
face to protect from radiant heat, is well shown by placing a slip 
of gold leaf on a sheet of paper, and holding over it a red-hot ball ; 
the uncovered paper is scorched, whilst the thin metal, itself an ex- 
cellent conductor, entirely protects the paper below. 

" It has, then, been shown that bodies differ in their power of 
transmitting heat, some, like rock salt, transmitting it readily, or 
being an easy diathermol body, whilst others, such as alum, trans- 
mit it but slightly, and that the rays of heat differ, depending upon 
the source from which they emanate, for the facility with which 



86 NATURE OF ETHERIUM. 

they penetrate transparent media; thereby confirming the proba- 
bility of the analogy that Melloni has drawn between the various 
rays of light and those of heat." 

Electricity is also explained by philosophers, on the 
hypothesis of an universal fluid, which, when in equilibrium, 
produces no phenomena ; but when the equilibrium is dis- 
turbed, by friction of the glass cylinder of an electric ma- 
chine, or by other means, certain electric phenomena follow. 

Galvanic Electricity is that which is produced by 
chemical action, and the apparatus commonly used is called 
a Galvanic Battery. It is supposed that every chemical 
change is accompanied with a movement of electricity ; and 
a Galvanic Battery is so contrived, as to cause the electro- 
chemical motion of etherium to take place in a circuit, 
thus : Put into a glass vessel a piece of zinc and a piece of 
copper, so placed as not to touch each other ; pour some 
water containing acid into the glass, so that the two metals 
will be corroded, and there will immediately be a current of 
electricity passing through the liquid from the zinc to the 
copper. Now connect the copper with the zinc by means 
of wire, and thus constitute a circuit, and there will be a 
continual current from the zinc to the copper through the 
water, and from the copper to the zinc through the wire. 
This is a Galvanic Battery in its simplest form. Any metals 
may be used, provided one corrodes more rapidly than the 
other ; even two pieces of the same metal will answer, pro- 
vided one piece is hammered and the other porous, so that 
one shall be corroded more rapidly than the other. 

There is an important distinction between the quantity 
of electricity obtained, and its intensity. That which is ob- 
tained from one pair of metallic plates, however large, is of 
very low intensity, so that it is easily insulated ; and, how- 
ever great the quantity may be, any number of wires may 
lie side by side, with nothing but a coating of varnish be- 
tween them, and each wire may convey a separate current, 



NATURE OF ETHERIUM. 87 

while its nearest neighbor conveys an opposite current, with- 
out any apparent interference. 

But when there is a great number of plates, even if they 
are small ones, the current acquires such intensity that it 
becomes difficult to isolate it, so as to prevent it from being 
communicated to surrounding bodies. 

I am inclined to think, that the currents of human ethe- 
rium are deficient, both in quantity and intensity, when com- 
pared with that produced by the artificial apparatuses ; and 
this is one reason why it does not overcome its. isolation 
more frequently. 

Thermo-Electricity is that which is brought into action 
through the agency of heat. This mode of producing elec- 
tric currents was discovered by Professor Seebeck, of Ber- 
lin, in 1822. He discovered that if two different kinds of 
metal are joined, and heated at the place of junction, a 
current of electricity will flow from one to the other ; and 
if the ends of the metals which are not joined are connected 
by a wire, so as to constitute a circuit, a, current of electri- 
city will pass around the circuit, just as it does around the 
Galvanic Battery. The conclusion is, that any thing which 
can disturb the equilibrium of the great mass of etherium, 
produces phenomena ; and these phenomena have received 
different names, according to the modes in which the equi- 
librium has been disturbed. 

Magnetism is but another mode in which currents of 
electricity are produced. 

Terrestrial Magnetism, which causes the compass needle 
to point nearly north and south, is now found to be caused 
by Thermo-Electric currents, produced by the heat of the 
sun upon the continually revolving earth. The most power- 
ful magnets are made by causing a current of electricity 
to pass along a wire which is wound spirally around apiece 
of iron. All the phenomena of magnetism are but modes 



88 NATURE OF ETHERIUM. 

in which electricity is manifested ; and all the phenomena 
of electricity can be produced by heat. 

Gravitation has never been satisfactorily explained by 
any hypothesis ; but the only attempts that have been made 
to give even a conjectural explanation of it, have been based 
upon the assumption of a universal fluid or etherium. The 
following is Newton's language upon the subject : 

" Is not this medium (aether) much rarer within the dense 
bodies of the sun, stars, planets and comets, than in the emp- 
ty celestial spaces between them ? And in passing from them 
to greater distances, does it not grow denser and denser per- 
petually, and thereby cause the gravity of those great bodies 
towards one another, and of their parts towards the bodies ; 
every body endeavoring to recede from the denser parts of 
the medium towards the rarer ? 

w For if this medium be supposed to be rarer within the 
sun's body than at its surface, and rarer there than at the 
hundredth part of an inch from his body, and rarer there 
than at the fiftieth part of an inch from his body, and rarer 
there than at the orb of Saturn, I see no reason why the in- 
crease of density should stop anywhere, and not rather be 
continued through all distances from the sun to Saturn and 
beyond. 

" And though this increase of density may at great dis- 
tances be exceeding slow ; yet if the elastic force of this 
medium be exceeding great, it may suffice to impel bodies 
from the denser parts of the medium towards the rarer with 
all that power which we call gravity. 

" And that the elastic force of this medium is exceeding 
great, may be gathered from the swiftness of its vibrations. 

" Light moves from the sun to us in about seven or eight 
minutes of time, which distance is about 70,000,000. 

" As magnetism is stronger in small loadstones than in 
great ones, in proportion to their bulk ; and gravity is stronger 
on the surface of small planets than those of great ones, 



NATURE OF ETHERIUM. 89 

in proportion to their bulk ; and small bodies are agitated 
more by electric attraction than great ones ; so the small- 
ness of the rays of light may contribute very much to the 
power of the object by which they are refracted ; and if any 
one should suppose that ether (like our air) may contain 
particles which endeavor to recede from one another, (for I 
do not know what ether is,) and that its particles are ex- 
ceedingly smaller than those of air, or even than those of 
light, the exceeding smallness of such particles ma} 7 contri- 
bute to the greatness of the force by which they recede 
from one another, and thereby make that medium exceed- 
ingly more rare and elastic than air, and of consequence ex- 
ceedingly less able to resist the motions of projectiles, and 
exceedingly mGre able to press upon gross bodies by en- 
deavoring to expand therein." 

Admitting the doctrine of a universal Etherium to explain 
gravitation, (and I cannot see how it can be avoided, what- 
ever hypothesis be adopted,) we are furnished with a power- 
ful argument in favor of the most marvelous pretensions 
of clairvoyance at a distance, and by this admission we are 
estopped from denying the possibility of clairvoyance from 
any want of a medium sufficiently potent, or subtile, or ex- 
tensive, or rapid in its movements ; for the force of gravity 
is transmitted from planet to planet with a degree of rapidity 
which far surpasses all other motions with which we are 
acquainted. In 1773, La Place " demonstrated that the at- 
tractive force of gravity must be transmitted fifty million 
times faster than light, which travels at the rate of two 
hundred thousand miles in a second." If, in addition to this 
fact, we consider that all bodies, however distant, or how- 
ever solid, are reached and penetrated by gravitation — ■-that 
no force can impede it, no isolation can exclude it, and no 
other velocity can rival it, since it has been demonstrated by 
the greatest mathematicians, to move as much faster than 
lightning, as lightning moves faster than a snail — I say, con- 
5 



90 NATURE OF ETHERIUM. 

sideling all this, the marvels of clairvoyance sink into a 
comparatively common and insignificant affair. 

It seems to me much more reasonable to suppose that 
there is but one universal Etherium, the different motions 
and combinations of which, with other and grosser matter, 
produce all the different phenomena of gravitation, heat, 
electricity, light, animal motions, &c, than that there 
are several independent and distinct universal fluids operat- 
ing through the same space, at the same time, upon the same 
bodies. It may be, that although there is but one Etherium, 
that this one is compounded of different kinds of matter or 
elements, each element possessing different properties pecu- 
liar to itself, and that when the compound Etherium comes 
into combination with some kinds of ponderable matter, it 
becomes decomposed, one element producing one class of 
effects, and another producing very different effects. 

Again, it may be that the universal Etherium is simple 
and uncompounded, but that, when it comes into contact 
with the ponderable materials of the earth, or other planets, 
it enters into combination with atoms of ponderable matter, 
so exceedingly minute, that it is impossible, with our finite 
powers of perception and invention, to detect them. By 
entering into these combinations, it may produce different 
classes of effects, which seem to proceed from different 
fluids. By adopting this hypothesis, we can understand why 
one modification of Etherium (light) will readily pass 
through transparent substances, but not through those which 
are opaque ; while another modification of Etherium (mag- 
netism) will pass with equal facility through both; and 
yet, by a certain process, electricity may be changed into 
magnetism, or magnetism into electricity ; and both may be 
made to produce light. We can also understand why elec- 
tricity, which will not pass through glass, can be changed 
to magnetism, or made to produce light, either of which 
will pass through without difficulty. Again, light may be 



NATURE OF ETHERIUM. 91 

made to produce magnetism, and heat to produce electricity 
and magnetism, while they both in turn produce heat; and, 
finally, chemical combinations produce heat, light, electrici- 
ty, magnetism, galvanism, attraction, vegetation, digestion, 
respiration, muscular motion and sensation, and numberless 
other phenomena. 

It is evident, from a review of all these facts, and many 
others, with which we are furnished by natural science, that 
we are at no loss for analogical proof of the reality of an 
etherean agent in nature, capable of producing all the effects 
ascribed to etheropathy or mesmerism. 

The Rev. Mr. Townsend, in his elegant work, modestly 
entitled, " Facts in Mesmerism,*' supports this doctrine with 
his usual felicity of expression. The ideas, however, which 
I have suggested in this work concerning credencive induc- 
tion, do not seem to have occurred to him as a means of 
accounting for what is commonly called " the effects of the 
imagination." He also inclines to the opinion that there 
may be several different kinds of fluid or Etherium, but he 
argues with so much ability in favor of the propriety of ad- 
mitting an etherial mesmeric agent, that perhaps I cannot 
better please my readers than by a liberal adoption of his 

lano;ua2;e. 

" First, I affirm that, productive of the effects called mes- 
meric, there is an action of matter as distinct and specific as 
that of light, heat, electricity, or any other of the impon- 
derable agents, as they are called ; that, when the mesmer- 
izer influences his patient, he does this by a medium, either 
known already in another guise, or altogether new to our 
experience. 

" What proofs, it will be asked, can I bring forward of this 
assertion ? I answer, such proofs as are considered availa- 
ble in all cases where an impalpable imponderable medium 
is to be considered ; facts, namely, or certain appearances, 



92 NATURE OF ETHERIUM. 

which, hearing a peculiar character, irresistibly suggest a 
peculiar cause. 

" Let us take only one of these. 

" Standing at some yards distant from a person who is in 
the mesmeric state (that persorf being perfectly stationary, 
'and with his back to me), I, by a slight motion of my hand 
(far too slight to be felt by the patient through any disturb- 
ance of the air), draw him towards me as if I actually 
grasped him. 

" What is the chain of facts which is here presented to me ? 
First, an action of my mind, without which I could not 
have moved my hand ; secondly, my hand's motion ; thirdly, 
motion produced in a body altogether external to, and dis- 
tant from myself. But it will at once be perceived that, in 
the chain of events as thus stated, there is a deficient link. 
The communication between me and the distant body is not 
accounted for. How could an act of my mind originate 
an effect so unusual ? 

" Why should we refuse to mesmerism that which we 
grant to magnetism ? It is true that as yet we have no bal- 
ance of torsion whereby the mesmeric force can be measur- 
ed ; but in the human body itself we do possess an instru- 
ment whereby its presence may be ascertained ; nor would 
it be reasonable to insist upon separate agencies being de- 
tected by the same test. Why, then, but from the force of 
prejudice, should we call the mesmeric medium a gratui- 
tous assumption ? That such a medium exists is not a gra- 
tuitous assumption, but an unavoidable deduction of reason. 
But there is a class of persons who refuse to admit of any- 
thing which they cannot sec, taste, or handle ; with such it 
is difficult to argue. Should proofs by experiments be ex- 
hibited to them again and again, they still return to their 
cuckoo note, ' Show me the agent.' One of these practi- 
cal men, as they are called, actually said to me on one occa- 
sion, i I never will believe that what you call mesmerism 



NATURE OF ETHERIUM. 93 

exists, unless }~ou can put it in a bottle, and submit it to 
analysis." 

" To what end, then, is reason given us, if not to judge of 
things invisible by those which are clearly seen ? For 
what purpose possess we the irresistible propensity to sup- 
ply deficient links in a chain of causation, if not to prompt 
us where our senses fail? We move a magnet over a 
needle, the needle moves in a corresponding manner ; and 
the human mind is so constituted that we cannot behold 
these two facts in seeming connection without uniting them 
by a third, which we consider as proved by them, since it is, 
in truth, their necessary consequence. We infer that the 
effect is produced by means of a magnetic current or medi- 
um, a something which propagates motion from the magnet 
to the needle. This something we cannot indeed behold, 
yet do we believe in it, and with justice ; for that which 
reason perceives to be necessary is not an invention, and 
can never be superfluous ; on the contrary, the only immu- 
table and essential truths come out of the mould of the in- 
tuitive reason, which, as Coleridge observes, stops not at 
1 this will be so,' but at once decides, l This must be so.' 

" Now, in all cases where motion is communicated from 
one body to another, the line of communication must be 
maintained unbroken. 

M The first impulse gives motion to certain atoms, which in 
their turn propel others, and so on, till the whole series be- 
tween the active body and the body which is to receive the 
original impulse, is set in motion, and then, at length, the 
sequence of events is complete, and the body towards which 
motion tended is set vibrating. If the medium that propa- 
gates the first impulsion be undulatory and elastic, its atoms 
only oscillate on either side a fixed point of rest ; but if it be 
composed of traveling atoms, there is an actual progression 
of the medium. In either case, motion is propagated by a 
real action of matter till it reach its final destination. This 



94 NATURE OF ETHERIUM. 

is the history of all communicated motion, and it is plain 
that this holds good, whether we behold the collection of 
atoms in a bodily shape, that transmits the motion, as in the 
case of one billiard ball propelling another, or whether we 
behold them not, as in the case of sound being communi- 
cated to the ear from a vibrating body, by means of the 
intervening air. I grant that the old maxim, ' A body can- 
not act where it is not,' is very properly exploded ; but for 
it we must substitute another, namely, c A body cannot act 
where it is not, save by deputy or transmissive means.' 
Yet some have overlooked this truth ; and in their zeal to 
avoid theories, when they behold two sensible actions evi- 
dently dependent the one on the other, and yet apparently 
disjointed, fear to unite them properly, by suggesting the 
presence of an unseen link, which, nevertheless, cannot but 
occur between the visible antecedent and the visible conse- 
quent ; for motion is not an entity that can go through void 
spaces, independently and alone ; it is merely a property, 
which has no existence out of the subject that manifests it ; 
and, where matter fails, there motion fails also. It is vain, 
then, to hold such language, as if it were possible for one 
body to produce motion in another without something inter- 
mediate, that is, miraculously and without means ; yet your 
good hater of theories will even dare to blame Newton for 
having suggested an ether to account for that action which 
one body produces on another, and even, in many cases, 
from vast distances, and which we call attraction. It is true, 
that Newton may be wrong in the manner in which he 
manages his ether, and accounts for impulsion and reimpul- 
sion by differences of dense and rare ; but he cannot be 
wrong in preserving an unbroken series of atoms between 
separate bodies which manifestly influence each other — be- 
tween the sun and earth, for instance — since in this case 
there is mutual action and motion communicated from a dis- 
tance. Extending the principle, and perceiving that all the 



NATURE OF ETHERIUM. 95 

heavenly bodies were in mutual relationship, and the whole 
celestial system harmoniously bound together, Newton sup- 
posed his ether to be of universal action, and to fill and per- 
vade creation, establishing a means of communication be- 
tween all its several parts. Were this allowed, there would 
be but little difficulty in explaining mesmerism ; but a sub- 
lime divination of this kind is too vast for the general un- 
derstanding. Accordingly, even Newton's name has failed 
to render the theory palatable, and men of small views have 
dared to call even this suggestion of a mighty mind gratui- 
tous, treating the author with a levity which can only lessen 
one's respect for the objectors. Have these cavilers an in- 
tellect superior to Newton's own ? If they have, let them 
give us something better than Newton's suggestion (better, 
not only in their own opinions, but in ours) respecting the 
great problems of creation ; some theory more solid and sub- 
lime, to satisfy the cravings of humanity after pure and lofty 
generalization : till then, let them, at least by silence, acqui- 
esce in Professor Playfair's beautifully expressed opinion of 
the queries : ' Such enlarged and comprehensive views, so 
many new and bold conceptions, were never before com- 
bined with the sobriety and caution of philosophical induc- 
tion. The anticipation of future discoveries, the assemblage 
of so many facts from the most distant regions of human 
research, all brought to bear on the same points and to elu- 
cidate the same questions, are never to be sufficiently ad- 
mired.' In recalling this to the reader's mind, I trust that 
I seem not to stray from my subject, which is, in truth, so 
deeply implicated in the truth or falsehood of Newton's 
principal suggestions. But I might leave this great man's 
defence to time, which already has ' brought in its re- 
venges,' science being even now occupied in developing 
Newton's ideas, and in establishing as undoubted truths the 
greater part of all which he so modestly advanced as queries. 
Facts relative to the acceleration observed in the mean mo- 



96 NATURE OF ETHERIUM. 

tion of comets have demonstrated, to the satisfaction of 
men of science, the existence of a resisting medium, undu- 
latory and elastic, which pervades the known universe. 

11 How frequently it has thus happened that the deductions 
of the pure reason have triumphed over the cavils and hesi- 
tations of the understanding which, being conversant with 
matters of experience only, cannot step beyond the sensuous 
and the known ! Kepler believed that the harmony of our 
system required a planet between Mars and Jupiter, and the 
deficiency is now actually supplied by the discovery of the 
four singular orbs which seem once to have formed but one 
single body. My reader's memory will doubtless supply 
other instances where the philosopher, in his closet, has 
outrun experiment, and has divined what future observation 
has verified and facts confirmed. When, thenj 1 we find 
Mesmer (who, whatever were his faults of conduct, was no 
contemptible thinker) suggesting a universal medium as 
alone explanatory of mesmeric phenomena, let us, instead 
of unwisely scoffing, inquire whether the circumstances of 
the case may not possibly render the existence of such a 
medium a positive necessity, and a truth palpable to reason. 
This at least we know, that all science seems now tending 
to refer the apparently distinct agencies of nature to the 
varied operation of one medium ; to establish, in fine, an 
ether such as Newton had imagined, and such as Mesmer 
perceived would satisfactorily account for the apparent 
miracles of his new science. 

" Now, whether mesmerism be a distinct medium, or only 
the distinct effects of a general medium, widely manifested 
in other offices, I will not take upon myself to decide. We 
no longer consider electricity, magnetism, even light itself, 
to be separate and independent agents ; we call them effects. 
And this is well, if we remember to refer effects to causes, 
and properties and qualities to real substances and subjects. 
We must not turn all the goings-on of the world into mere 



NATURE OF ETHERIUM. 97 

abstractions. Vibrations imply a vibrating body ; electric 
motions or concussions, something that moves or is con- 
cussed. It will, indeed, greatly simplify our ideas to con- 
sider all the various appearances of nature as so many ac- 
tions of matter, but we must beware of supposing that, 
where action is present, matter can be absent. I am very 
willing, then, to call all mesmeric phenomena effects ; but I 
not the less contend that they must be effects of something. 
I am willing to consider mesmerism itself as an action of 
matter, yet still of matter. I cannot tell whether, in the 
case of mesmeric agency, matter assumes the form of a fluid 
or a gas, but I know and am sure that material agency there 
is. This agency may be only one of the modifications of a 
substance which operates in. other ways, or it may be the 
single action of a single substance. But, in fact, the pro- 
bability is, that there are really various media in nature, 
the finer, we may suppose, occupying the interstices of 
the grosser, distinct yet interfused, wheel within wheel, a 
subtile mechanism. Every one knows that the atmosphere 
is the medium through which sound is conveyed to us. 
A bell rung under the exhausted receiver of an air-pump 
is inaudible ; but the crystal walls, that keep out air, bar 
not the passage of light and heat. Newton's experiment 
of this, and his consequent reasoning on the fact, appear 
to me conclusive. He says, (Qu. 18,) ' If in two large, 
tall, cylindrical vessels of glass, inverted, two little ther- 
mometers be suspended, so as not to touch the vessels, 
and the air be drawn out of one of these vessels, and these 
vessels, thus prepared, be carried out of a cold place into a 
warm one, the thermometer in vacuo will grow warm as 
much and almost as soon as the thermometer which is not 
in vacuo. And, when the vessels are carried back into the 
cold place, the thermometer in vacuo will grow cold almost 
as soon as the other thermometer. Is not the heat of the 
warm room conveyed through the vacuum by the vibrations 
5* 



98 NATURE OF ETHERIUM, 

of a much subtiler medium than air, which, after the air 
was drawn out, remained in the vacuum ? And is not this 
medium the same with that medium by which light is re- 
fracted and reflected V 

" The conclusion which such experiments force upon us is, 
that there really exist in nature different media, related, yet 
distinct. If, therefore, I am understood literally instead of 
figuratively when I speak of mesmerism as an individual 
agency, I shall not seem greatly to have violated the anal- 
ogies of nature. This at least I affirm, mesmerism has its 
own peculiar action ; and therefore, for the sake of con- 
venience, I shall denominate matter, as it is developed in 
this particular way, the mesmeric medium, a term with 
which, I trust, none of my readers will be disposed to 
quarrel, the advantage and propriety of referring one class 
of effects to one cause being manifest. We do this naturally 
in all cases where distinction is required. The imponder- 
able fluids are still characterized, pro forma, by individual 
names, though we believe that they may be children of one 
parent. From certain effects we are allowed to presume 
the existence of a luminous medium. I therefore, by parity 
of reasoning, may be allowed, from other effects, to infer 
the existence of a mesmeric medium. 

" And, in truth, there is no agenc} r which more manifestly 
than this may claim to be distinctive, since it is developed 
under quite other circumstances ; and, being developed, 
presents quite other phenomena than any material action 
with which we have hitherto been acquainted. 

" It neither results from a union of gases nor from chemical 
composition. It is not developed by the rubbing of amber 
or the juxtaposition of minerals. It is elicited by certain 
actions of living nature alone. 

" Viewed merely as a physical agency, it originates a sleep, 
sui generis, which pervades the external organs, yet leaves 
the intelligence free : jt brings the nervous system into a 



NATURE OF ETHEItlUM. 99 

state of exceeding sensibility, rendering it cognizant of influ- 
ences by which at other times it is wholly unaffected. 

" Now what is the medium we know not ; and, therefore, 
all that remains for us, in our ignorance, to do, is to gather 
as much information concerning it as we can. We cannot 
analyze it in the same manner as light, or separate it into 
its component parts, like the atmosphere ; but every agent 
has its own elements, and, consequently, a method of anal- 
ysis proper to itself. This is clear ; in its mode of action 
it can alone be made manifest ; its sensible action, there- 
fore, is the legitimate sphere in which it may be studied ; 
and, till we have all its facts and relations, we have only to 
observe its phenomena, and to state the results of our ob- 
servation as plainly as possible. 

" First, then, it is an agency which has physical effects on 
man. 

" That any one who has been conversant with even the 
first symptoms produced by mesmerism should doubt the 
physical and distinct character of the agency, seems impos- 
sible. However marvelous be the train of mental phenom- 
ena consequent upon its operation, its primary effects are 
undoubtedly upon the body of the patient. Those who are 
neither under the predisposing influence of fear or of imagi- 
nation ; who know not what they have to expect ; who, 
perhaps, close their eyes from the beginning of the experi- 
ment, all agree in feeling a weight upon the eyelids, accom- 
panied by a slight pricking ; then follows the sensation of a 
cold current of air streaming in the direction of the mes- 
merizer's fingers, and of a torpor in the limbs, which gradu- 
ally increases, until spontaneous motion becomes not only 
difficult, but impossible to the patient. 

" It has been asserted that, when the attention of mesmeric 
patients is pre-occupied and diverted from the mesmeric 
processes, or when the imagination has not been previously 
advised of an effect to follow, the agency is null. 



100 NATURE OF ETHERIUM. 

" This statement demands an examination the more serious, 
inasmuch as it is one of those half-truths which Coleridge 
has denounced as fatal to true philosophy. 

" It must be allowed that the mesmeric influence is to a 
certain degree impeded, should it be essayed upon a person 
who is determined to resist it, oi\ whose mind is actively 
engaged upon other matters ; but does this, can this prove 
that the agency is null save in the imagination of the pa- 
tient ? The only thing that it demonstrates with certainty is 
that which every rational man who has at all studied the 
subject must concede, namely, that the force employed in 
the mesmeric process is not sudden or violent in its action, 
but of the nature of those subtile influences which it requires 
a certain attention, and, indeed, education of the sensibili- 
ty to perceive. A savage has been known to track his 
prey, like a dog, by the scent alone ; and in doing so, he 
must, of necessity, fix all his attention upon the fine exha- 
lations whereby he is guided. But how plainly absurd it 
would be to affirm on that account that there was no actual 
exciting cause of the sensations of the savage ! But, it is 
argued, the imagination must be forewarned before the ef- 
fects called mesmeric can occur ; and is not this sufficient 
to refer them to the imitative power of the imagination? The 
answer is not difficult. 

"Imagination, indeed, imitates, but then it must have some- 
thing to imitate. The very expression presupposes a model, 
and gives real existence to the subject in debate. Granting 
that which, indeed, I do not concede, namely, that the ef- 
fects of mesmerism can be proved without mesmerism, and 
by the imagination solely, it by no means follows that cer- 
tain effects have not at certain times been produced by mes- 
merism, and by pure mesmerism. That which is spurious 
argues that which is true, and many copies of a picture 
place the existence of an original beyond a doubt. 

" Again : they who draw strong conclusions against mes- 



NATURE OF ETHERIUM. 101 

meristn by affirming that it cannot take effect unless the 
imagination be prepared to receive it, should remember that 
they who, deeming they shall feel nothing under mesmerism, 
and do actually feel nothing, are both forewarned and fore- 
armed against the influence in debate ; and are thus them- 
selves under the predisposing sway of the imagination as 
much as their opponents, only in a different manner ; the 
one party believing they shall, the other that they shall not, 
experience certain effects. Under these circumstances, how 
the latter can pretend to a more accurate judgment on the 
point t^an the former, I confess I cannot perceive. ' Im- 
agination does much,' say the anti-mesmerists : granted ; 
and let us have the full benefit of the principle. If imagina- 
tion be so potent, it may also render insensible to mesmeric 
influence those who are predetermined to feel nothing of it. 
-Yet more ; the force of the mind to resist even the most 
powerful influences may be easily shown by facts to be 
great, nay, incalculable. In Lockhart's Life of Scott, an 
anecdote proving this, is related by Scott himself, of one 
of the Duke of Buccleugh's farmers. c His father had given 
him a quantity of laudanum (writes Sir Walter) instead of 
some other medicine. The mistake was instantly discover- 
ed ; but the young man had sufficient energy and force of 
mind to combat the operation of the drug. While all 
around him were stupid with fear, he rose, saddled his horse, 
and rode to Selkirk (six or seven miles), thus saving the 
time that the doctor must have taken in coming to him. It 
is very curious that his agony of mind was able to suspend 
the operation of the drug until he had alighted, when it in- 
stantly began to operate. He recovered perfectly.' 

"The degree to which a person may resist, yet still be in- 
fluenced by, the mesmeric agency, when preoccupied by 
some counteracting idea, was on one occasion demonstrated 
to me, and, as it were, marked off and measured in an inter- 
esting manner. 



102 NATURE OF ETHERIUM. 

"A friend of mine at Cambridge, who knew nothing what- 
ever of animal magnetism (as it was then called) but the 
name, consented to let me try an experiment upon him be- 
fore some incredulous persons, who had said they would 
never believe in the agency until they saw it exhibited 
upon some one who did not even know that he was to 
go to sleep. It being ascertained that Mr. H — (the sin- 
cerest of all men) was really ignorant of even so much mes- 
meric lore, I and my patient sat down in our proper relative 
positions. At the end of five minutes (though it was the 
unsleepy time of noon) Mr. H — began to close his efes and 
to nod, but soon started, rubbed his eyes, shook himself, and 
went through all the usual formula of a person who wishes 
to keep awake. This alternate nodding and arousing went 
on for some time, when, tired at length of such unsatisfac- 
tory results, I gave the matter up and quitted my chair. 
The patient was then questioned as to what he had felt. 
1 Only very sleepy,' he replied. 1 1 experienced no elec- 
tric shock, nor anything of the kind, though I watched and 
waited for it.' l But if you felt sleepy, why did you not 
go to sleep?' asked some one. c Oh,' answered Mr. H — , 
1 what would I not have given to have gone to sleep ? but 
I thought I must on no account do this, as I was to keep a 
sharp look-out for the electric shock !' My reader may 
smile at this, but I can assure him that the ignorance of my 
friend respecting the effects of mesmerism is no measure of 
his information on other subjects. 

" It appears, then, that the only concession we have to 
make to the anti-mesmerist is, that the mood of mind and 
body which is most favorable to the reception of mes- 
meric influence is that which Wordsworth has characterized 
under the title of 'a wise passiveness.' How completely 
this refutes the arguments, or, rather, assumptions of those 
who would resolve all mesmerism into imagination, is mani- 
fest. But it is time that this question should be forever set 



NATURE OF ETHERIUM. 103 

at rest. How such a cause as imagination could at any time 
be assigned or accepted as explanatory of mesmeric phe- 
nomena is matter of wonder, and that it should be so dimin- 
ishes one's respect for the sagacity of the human species. 
Here, indeed, is inefficient causation ! Here, truly, is gratui- 
tous assumption ! I have heard of imagination keeping 
persons awake, but never of its setting them to sleep. This 
busy power holds no possible alliance with mesmerism, 
whose gentle influence, like streams that are only heard 
when we listen for them in the hush of night, must be at- 
tended to with the quiet patience of a peaceful spirit. 

" But the imagination theory is really too absurd to merit a 
serious refutation.* 

" A thousand times I have seen mesmeric patients placed 
under circumstances where the action of imagination was 
plainly impossible. In proof of this I have only to refer to 
the preceding books of this work. Persons, it will there be 
seen, have been thrown into the mesmeric state when asleep, 
and wholly unadvised of any experiment to be tried upon 
them. They have been drawn towards the mesmerizer 
from a distance, when standing with their backs to him ; 
they have manifested phenomena coinciding with those dis- 
played by other mesmeric patients at different times and at 
different places, and which could not have resulted from im- 
itation, since the patients themselves, not knowing a previ- 
ous type, were plainly incapable of producing a copy. 

" Surely facts like these imperatively call upon us to ac- 
knowledge an agency, which we may call mesmeric or 
what we please, so long as we confound it not with imagi- 
nation, imitation, et hoc genus omne of inefficient and inap- 
plicable causes. 

" Experience of the past should teach us not to despair of 
seeing the statics and dynamics of the mesmeric force plain- 

* I would refer my reader to the article in this work on Creden- 
civeness to find an explanation of the nature of imagination. 



104 NATURE OF ETHERIUM. 

ly laid down. Who, in the early periods of science, would 
have ventured to predict the invention of a balance whereby 
the magnetic action could be reduced to weight and mea- 
sure ? Look at the history of magnetical discoveries ! What 
patience, what erroneous guesses, what feeble dawnings of 
truth, what lessons of hope are there ! The knowledge of 
magnetical effect is as old, at least, as the era of Homer, by 
whom they are distinctly referred to ; but it is less than a 
century ago* that Mitchell established the true law of mag- 
netic action, and mesmerism has not yet completed its 
seventieth year : a measure of existence which the Psalmist 
has assigned as the period of one man's life ! Is this a suf- 
ficient space for the development of a subject the most fer- 
tile and the most vast, because the most intimately connect- 
ed with man ? 

" This, at least, even in the present state of mesmeric 
science, may be affirmed, that, considered as a force, the 
agency betrays no slight indications of its affinity with me- 
chanical powers, and that certain circumstances regarding it 
bring to us nearly a full conviction that its effects are depend- 
ent on a certain invariable proportion between the mesmeric 
force of the individual who dispenses, and that of him who 
submits to receive the influence. t What that proportion 
is, once ascertained, (and how can this be but by repeated 
observation ?) would reduce mesmerism to a law and to a 
certainty. Its mental and remedial effects will indeed ne- 
cessarily always continue to be varied according to the char- 
acter and temperament of its patients, but its purely phy- 
sical agency might be brought within conditions perhaps 
narrower and more simple than we can now conceive. Sup- 
posing (as some now deem) the vital action to be electric, 
that which is called a man's nervous force or constitution 

* In 175Q. 

f By referring to my remarks on Isolation, it will be seen why the 
more powerful cannot always affect the weaker. 



NATURE OF ETHERIUM. 105 

would depend on the possession of a certain original measure 
of the electric fluid. "Were this found to be the case, (my 
idea may raise a smile,) a neurometer, or instrument to as- 
certain the power of a person, might give to mesmerism the 
precision which science requires. Who would have thought 
at one time a measure of magnetism possible ? 

" My suggestion may be deemed absurd, but this will not 
alter the facts of mesmerism. At present, we are only ac- 
quainted with the general result, and not with the elements 
that compose it ; but this is no more a proof that is not com- 
posed of elements, than the ancient ignorance what water 
was could have demonstrated that it was not composed of 
two airs in certain proportions. 

." Our knowledge that the will acts, yet our ignorance how 
it acts, on matter, should prepare us to receive, without a 
dogmatic denial at least, proofs of an extension in its capa- 
cities and its sphere. If, in some mysterious way, I actuate 
another, it is scarcely more wonderful than that I actuate 
myself. It is true that the latter comes within the range 
of my every-day experience ; but can I any more compre- 
hend it ? 

" How great a force the will either has or wields, may 
be almost measured off to our senses in a very simple but 
striking manner. 

" Let two covered vessels precisely alike, the one empty, 
the other full of some heavy substance, such as leaden bul- 
lets, be placed before a person. Let him first lift the full 
vessel, and let him then be told to raise the empty one, with 
an understanding that it is of equal weight with the first. 
The person doing this will put into action so much unne- 
cessary force, from the expectation of being about to lift a 
great weight, that his baffled vigor will, in its reaction, 
cause quite a painful concussion in the muscles of the arm. 
Now could that force, which, as it were, returns upon him- 
self, be directed outward, it is plain that it might produce a 



106 NATURE OF ETHERIUM. 

very powerful and peculiar action in the media wherewith 
we are surrounded. And wherefore not directed outward? 
This, at least, we know, that the will is really the primary 
agent which enables us to move all bodies foreign to and 
apart from ourselves. In these cases, indeed, it acts through 
intermediate agencies which are visible to us. But there is 
nothing whatever to render it impossible that the mind should 
act sometimes by unseen, yet even more potent intermedi- 
aries than the accustomed. After all, what astonishes us in 
mesmerism is not that the mind is shown capable of produ- 
cing motion, but that it is exhibited producing motion in a 
different way, as we conceive, from that with which our ex- 
perience is familiar. That the mind should originate a 
series of motions of which we cannot behold certain of the 
intervening links (I speak of cases in which the mesmeriser 
influence his patient from a distance), this is the true ground 
of our wonder and incredulity. Yet, in fact, the very same 
thing occurs in our commonest experience. When I move 
one of my fingers, I am only acquainted with the first fact 
and the last in a sequence of events, the intermediate cir- 
cumstances of which are hidden from my knowledge, and 
which are, probably, very numerous. Some of the hidden 
links in the series, I know from reason. From the anato- 
mist, I learn that my mind, in the first instance, moves a 
portion of my brain (for certain injuries to the brain render 
voluntary motion impossible) ; that this, again, communi- 
cates an impnlse to a nerve (for, cut the nerve, and the im- 
pulse reaches not the muscle) ; that then, again, a muscle is 
moved, and finally the finger. The simplest voluntary mo- 
tion, then, is but an impulse, originating with mind in the 
first place, and thence transferred through a series of atoms. 
There is a sequence of changes, nothing more ; some of 
which are known to us, others not. There is (to use the 
language of Locke) but one real action, yet many passions 
or communicated motions. And what is mesmerism but 



NATURE OF ETHERIUM. 107 

this ? * The same definition suits motion, whether produced 
mesmerically or normally. The same circumstances attend 
both. Again, even should we pursue motion beyond the . 
limits of our own bodies, we shall find that there are invisible 
links in all the impulsions which we communicate to matter. 
The philosopher knows that we are not in real contact with 
anything which we appear to touch ; that there is always 
something invisible between us and the object that we 
handle. 

" Again : do I not, by every motion of my body, change 
the relative position of the atoms of the media that surround 
me ? Do I not displace the air, cause various motions in the 
waves of light, and influence nature to a distance around 
me which it were vain to attempt to calculate ? The 
wonder, then, seems to be, not that the mind should pro- 
duce changes in surrounding objects, but that, being itself 
1 the fountain-head of motion,' it should not move matter 
more forcibly and generally. Doubtless it would be so had 
not the all-wise Ruler of creation confined the human mind 
within necessary limits. Could the will sway the material 
as it does the immaterial world, what bounds would there 
be to the tyrant's caprice, to the conqueror's ambition? 
Mountains would crumble as a dream, and oceans be dried 
up at our bidding. A Napoleon would l make a sop of all 
the solid globe.' These ideas are not so extravagant as his 
who doubts the power of the human will. By that alone 
we do great things ; by that alone we conquer kingdoms or 
ourselves ; by that alone we achieve the hourly miracle of 
moving matter, united with, or extraneous to ourselves. Is 
the will, then, a nullity, whose influence is to be excluded 
from our consideration when we treat on any subject which 
nearly concerns man ? 

M In the chain of our argument, then, there appears to be 
no link wanting. It is thus connected. Every thought 
moves the brain in its own appropriate manner. 



108 NATURE OF ETHERIUM. 

" A pervading medium being allowed to exist throughout 
nature (such as the electric), it follows as a consequence 
that every thought which moves the brain imparts motion 
also to the ethereal medium. 

" Mesmerized persons, being in a state of extreme sensibil- 
ity, are cognizant of the motions of finer media than com- 
mon. 

"The motions created by the thoughts of other persons be- 
ing transferred through the brain, and through a certain me- 
dium to the sensorium of a mesmerized person, are to him 
intelligible signs of thought : a language which, though new 
to him at first, he, by a gradual process of association, gives 
meaning to and learns to comprehend. 

" They who watch for my halting, and are on the look-out 
for discrepancies, may here remind me that I have in other 
places advanced facts which are at variance with the sup- 
position of a vibratory medium in mesmerism, and which 
rather tend to establish the existence of a material emana- 
tion, of which the mesmerizer's'body is the original source. 
Contact, the breath, motions of the hand near the patient, 
have been described as powerfully aiding the transmission 
of the mesmeric influence. To this I reply that it is now 
very generally admitted that heat is but a modification of 
the same agent which produces the sensation of light ; in 
other words, no real entity, but a peculiar action of matter. 
Thus to heat a body is only to bring the atoms which com- 
pose that body into a particular state of vibration. Yet, in 
order to effect this, in order to induce that peculiar action 
of matter which we call heat, we employ certain means, 
which, being themselves material, tend to invest the agent 
with a material character, but which are in reality only the 
occasions of bringing certain atoms into a particular state. 

"It may well, then, be allowed, by those, at least, who 
adopt the undulatory theory, that the material means em- 
ployed in mesmerism to charge a patient with the mesmeric 



NATURE OF ETHERIUM. 109 

influence are no proof whatever of the material character of 
that influence, but are simply methods whereby a medium 
may be thrown into that particular state of action.* That , 

* In contrast with my own views, as well as those of Mr. Townsend 
and every other author who has written upon this subject, I will, in 
justice to the Rev. La Roy Sunderland, give the principal arguments 
which he advances in opposition to the doctrine of a fluid. It should 
be understood, that he claims to have been the^first to discover that 
the organs of the brain can be excited by touching them, although he 
denies that it is done by the agency of a fluid. Without discussing 
that subject in this place, I will merely say that I deny that he or any 
one else has made such a discovery, and I refer for further particulars 
on this point, to another part of this work. But concerning a fluid, 
Mr. S. in his work entitled " Pathetism," says: 

" What we wish to ascertain, is, whether the brain or nervous 
system eliminates a fluid, which is received into the system of the 
subject, who is affected by pathetism ? When the fingers are applied 
to the cerebral organs, and the subject manifests any given emotion, is 
that emotion excited by the reception of a nervous substance from the 
hand of the operator ? Or when one operates upon another, (as it is 
said,) by his will, merely, is there in this case, a transmission of any 
fluid or substance from the nerves of the operator, into the nerves of 
the patient ? 

" The following are some of the reasons which incline me to the 
negative of this question : — 

" 1. The results produced without any physical contact, and with- 
out any effort of the will. 

" It is susceptible of the clearest demonstration, that sleep, for in- 
stance, may be induced without any physical contact, or any mental 
effort of the will of another, whatever. And so of many of the results 
already described in the preceding chapter. To suppose the trans- 
mission of a fluid in the case of the wooden tractors, or in the case of 
the non-magnetised tree of Mesmer, is perfectly preposterous. When 
the patient touched a tree that had not been magnetised, he was seized 
with convulsions ; but when he came in contact with the tree upon 
which the operator assumed to have thrown the magnetic fluid, he 
was not affected at all ! No wonder the French commissioners put the 
seal of their condemnation upon Mesmer's theory. 

" But, that persons often sink into a state/ of real somnipathy, with- 
out any influence from physical contact or the will of another, is a 
matter of certainty. I have known persons to fall into this state, par- 
tially, who had never been pathetised, merely by seeing me operate on 
another; and, times without number, have I had my patients fall into 
this state,when they have been in the same room, or in the same dwelling 
where they knew I was operating upon others, when I had no volition 
at all upon the subject. Only the present week, a patient on whom I 



110 NATURE OF ETHERIUM. 

there is no just reason why that action should not be vibra- 
tory is also manifest. 

had not operated for more than six months, happened to be present 
while I was pathetising another; and though she was decidedly 
opposed to going to sleep herself, and though I did not wish her to 
fall into this state, yet she did so. And what was remarkable, when 
asleep, she refused to let me touch her for the purpose of waking her up; 
and after remaining in this state all night, she remembered nothing of 
what had happened, on waking up the next morning. Her opposition 
to being pathetised arose from her dread of ridicule ; but we see from 
this case how it is, that the mind of a person overcomes the suscepti- 
bility, and induces sleep, without any will on the part of another, 
and indeed, in some cases, even against the wishes cf the patient him- 
self. 

" But I may be referred to cases like the following: — the patient is 
blindfolded, and the operator merely brings his fingers within an inch 
or so of any particular organ, and its function is excited. Or, the pa- 
tient places his finger near any given organ in the head of another, 
and his own mind becomes affected. 

" To this I answer : 

" (1.) If the excitement of the separate organs is caused by the 
actual transmission of a fluid, the results should always be the same ; 
that is the emotions excited in one subject should be the same as those 
excited from precisely the same place in the head of another. But 
this is not the case ; for though the cerebral organs may be excited 
without contact, in some subjects, yet the same feelings are not 
always excited from the same locations, in different heads. These 
discrepancies can be accounted for, only, by the laws of sympathy be- 
fore described. 

" (2.) Exciting the cerebral organs without contact, no more proves 
the transmission of a fluid, than the relief of pain, or sleep, induced 
without contact. 

" (3.) The cases in which the cerebral organs can be controlled by 
pathetisrn, to any considerable degree, are very few ; and hence, it is 
hardly safe to deduce a general law from these few cases. 

" (4.) Among the subjects susceptible of cerebral excitement, by 
manipulation, the number is fewer still whose organs can be controlled 
without any contact ; and the world over, perhaps, not one individual 
was ever found, in whom each of the organs could be excited without 
contact. But, if one organ may be excited in this way, and if there be 
an actual transmission of a fluid into the brain of the subject, it is 
plain, that we should be able to excite one organ as well as another. 
But this is not, by any me^ns, the case. 

" 2. Effects produced on idiots and infants. 

"Every operator must have noticed, how much more difficult it is 
to affect infants and idiots, than it is adults, and persons in whom the 
cerebral organs are fully developed. But, if a fluid be actually trans- 
mitted, why should it not be received with equal readiness into the 
heads of idiots and children ? — Infants, who have all the organs, pro- 
portionally large, are not (other things being equal,) so easily affected 



NATURE OF ETHERIUM. Ill 

" Pursuing the analogy between heat and the mesmeric 
agency, we know that, with regard to exciting the former, 

as adults. Nor, indeed, am I aware that there has ever been an in- 
stance, where the cerebral organs have been separately excited in in- 
fants. But why not ? Why should not the finger of the operator 
transmit the neuraura to the organ of Benevolence or Self-Esteem, in 
a brain six months old, as easily as into one twenty-five or thirty 
years ? The true reason is, these effects, in many cases, depend much 
upon the mental apprehensions of the subject, as I have already stated 
in the preceding theory. 

" 3. The different results from the same locations, and the same 
results from different locations. 

" For instance: in one subject Combativeness is excited by touch- 
ing the ■ bridge of the nose,' so called; in another, by touching the 
muscles in the under lip ; in another, by touching the scapula; and in 
another, by touching one of the fingers or teeth ? Can any one, in 
his senses, believe these results to be produced bv the transmission of 
a fluid ? 

" But, to get rid of this difficulty, an advocate of the fluid theory 
tells us, that in these cases the patient is under the control of the 
operator's will, and, therefore, these results are not to be depended 
upon ! Just as much as the man who makes this objection, and no 
more. I have operated on hundreds, and, I may say, thousands of 
cases, where I know that the subjects were no more under the in- 
fluence of my will, in the sense above supposed, than any other person 
whom I never saw. I have put them to sleep by my will, as it is 
called, and without it — I have examined this agency in every imagina- 
ble aspect, and tested it in every conceivable manner possible, and 
affirm what I know, when I say, that I have induced these different 
results from persons who were not asleep, and from others who were, 
and yet. they were not caused or modified by my will, in the least 
conceivable degree. The inference, to my own mind, is irresistible, 
that the notion of a fluid transmitted from the operator to the subject, 
is utterly unfounded. 

"How could a subject be influenced by my will, when I had no 
will about the result, as to what it should or would be ? The truth 
is, many operators have unquestionably, been most egregiously deceived 
as to many things they have attributed to their own wills. How the sus- 
ceptibility is controlled by the will, and how the will and the suscepti- 
bility reciprocally act upon each other, I have already shown. But, to 
assume that, when I touch the same organs in three different subjects, 
and they every one manifest a different result, one must be more in 
love with theories that I desire to be, to believe that the results are 
either caused by the transmission of a fluid, or that they are the results 
of my own volitions, when I know that I exerted no will in the cases 
at all, and the patients were no rore controlled by my will than the 
chairs on which they sat. 

' ; 4. The immediate agencies for affecting the mind, must, in all 
cases, be the same. 

"Titillation of the feet or sides, excites the organs of mirth. Is 



112 NATURE OF ETHERIUM. 

the means are not only variousj but that they may be alter- 
ed according to circumstances. Occasionally they may ap- 

therc, ia such cases, a fluid transmitted ? And what is the difference 
between the agency by which mirth is excited, either by tickling the 
soles of the feet, or by applying the fingers to the organs of mirth in 
the head ? A tread upon a gouty toe, not unfrcquently excites the 
organ of Combativencss. Is there a fluid transmitted in such cases ? 

" How often ^do we feel our Hope, Faith, Courage, Devotion, Love 
and Benevolence excited, by what we hear said in a public assembly ; 
and in this way, thousands of organs are all excited at the same mo- 
ment. Is there a fluid transmitted in such cases? Who can be- 
lieve it ? 

" But I might ask, what excites emotion in any case ? What is the 
immediate agency which excites feeling of any kind? If it be by a 
fluid eliminated in one case, why not in all? and if the hand transmits 
this nervous current or fluid, on applying it to the head, how is it to 
be rationally accounted for, that this fact was never discovered before 
the nineteenth century ? How has it come to pass, that among 
the millions of millions who have had their hands upon each 
other's cerebral organs, since the world began, not one of them ever 
received this fluid in any perceptible degree, before the year 1811 ? 
Really, to swallow such an assumption, one needs an organ of Marvel - 
ousness, to say the least, much larger than the one possessed by the 
writer of these pages. 

" The truth of the case is, most who Have ever manifested any interest 
in the investigation of this subject, under whatever name it has been 
presented, have taken it for granted, all along, that there must he a 
magnetic or nervous fluid actually transmitted in order to produce 
these results, because those who have gone before have said so. And 
thinking of no other way for solving all the phenomena which followed 
the process of manipulation, we have readily adopted the crude notions 
of others. And this is the more remarkable, when we examine the 
results of the wooden tractors, together with the history of Mcsmer's 
operations, and observe what an abundance of facts they present, 
which go directly to annihilate the fluid theory." 

My readers may be curious to know by what theory Mr. Sunderland 
proposes to account for the facts without admitting an etherium or fluid, 
I must confess that, after reading his work carefully, I find it impossi- 
ble to understand his theory, or if I do understand it, I beg leave to 
say, without intending any disrespect, that it is perfectly absurd. 
He seems to resolve the whole matter into a metaphysical abstraction, 
too refined for ordinary comprehension, and infinitely more subtile than 
the fluid which he denounces. But let the reader judge by the fol- 
lowing extract, which embodies his views on this point : 

" It will have been seen, that by what I denominate pathetlsm, is 
meant susceptibility to the influence of an agency which is concerned 



NATURE OF ETHERIUM. 113 

pear very complex, as where chemistry employs its re- 
sources to develop heat by the union of two liquids or gases ; 
and occasionally nothing can be more simple, as where, by 

in every feeling or emotion, or passion, or action which was ever felt, 
or put forth by any human being. It has to do with the laws of ani- 
mal life — with nervous susceptibility to pleasure or to pain. Without 
it, man is a lifeless body of matter. All the feelings therefore which 
one human being may be able to excite in the mind of another, whether 
pleasurable or otherwise, all the influence he is enabled to exert over 
mind, are identical with this same agency. If they be from the mate- 
ria medica, received into the stomach, or agencies applied to the sur- 
face of the body, their effects depend upon a susceptibility , peculiar 
to the living body. Or, if impressions be made upon the sensorium 
through the eye or ear, or through the nerves of sensation, the imme- 
diate agency which carries those impressions to the mind is pathetism. 
It is heard in the tones of the voice — it is seen in the look of the eye, 
and the features of the face; and in its effects thus produced, nothing 
is thought of it, because these are common and always before the 
mind. But when precisely the same thing, is felt from the touch of 
the human hand, those not familiar with the true philosophy of mind 
start back and tell us this cannot be ! But why not ? What has been 
known, or what is now known of the human system, which proves 
that the same influence may not be communicated to one, from the 
touch of the hand, which at other times reaches the soul through the 
eye, or ear ? Or, who has been able to tell how it is that an impression 
is made upon the mind through the ear? What is there in sound to 
affect nri)id ? Or, when the rays of light strike upon the optic nerves, 
what makes the intellect take cognizance of the image which they 
make there ? In a word, how is it that what we call mind is im- 
pressed by natural agencies, in any way ? Can matter control spirit ? 

" And pressing these inquiries thus far, I might ask an objector to 
tell the difference between matter and spirit — 'What is an element ? 
What are the laws by which mind and matter reciprocally affect each 
other ? What is life ? What is disease and death ? 

" Do you say that we know nothing of these first principles ? that we 
are in the dark as to the laws which operate in producing the most 
common occurrences of life ? Then it must not, it will not be denied 
but that there are other things as mysterious and unaccountable, as 
the wonders of phrenopathy or clairvoyance. When I place my hand 
upon the head of another, and he manifests a feeling of sadness or joy ; 
when by the same simple process, I cause him to weep or to sing, 
laugh or to pray, to rave with madness or to soar in ecstasies of plea- 
surable emotions, is there any more real mystery in the agency by 
which these things are done, than when one is made to weep by merely 
looking upon a scene of suffering ; or when he is induced to sing from 
the influence of certain sounds which break upon the ear ? 

" Andthu3 of mental perceptions, when the external senses are closed. 
It is not uncommon for persons to have more vivid and impressive 
views of objects in their natural sleep, than they ever had in their 

6 



114 NATURE OF ETHERIUM. 

more friction, we produce heat. This should warn us not 
to be surprised that mesmeric results should accrue from 
different processes, simple as well as complex ; that at one 

waking state. The system being composed and all the faculties at 
rest, except the one or two whose excitement constitutes the dream- 
ing, the energies of the whole seem to be concentrated upon those or- 
gans, and an impression is thus made more powerful than any which 
could be produced when all the organs are in a state of general wake- 
fulness. The phenomenon of dreaming is common, and therefore 
excites no surprise. But when one is put into a state of sleep by arti- 
ficial means, and in that state he is found to see with his eyes fast 
closed, and to have perceptions of distant objects, the phenomenon is 
new, and we cannot admit it. 

" If we take two pieces of smooth soft iron, and put them in contact, 
we do not see that one has any influence upon the other ; but if we 
rub one piece upon the other, in one direction only, for a length of 
time, we perceive that by this process, we have established such a 
relation between the two, that they mutually attract each other. And 
yet we cannot detect any substance in either of them which was not 
there before ; nor do we see that a fluid of any kind is actually com- 
municated by one and received by the other. All we know about this 
phenomenon is, that by a certain process, a relation has been estab- 
lished between those two pieces of iron, which causes them to stick 
together in this manner. What that relation is we do not know. It 
-would seem, however, that this process had actually produced a dffer- 
ence in the qualities of iron ; for before they were passed upon each 
other in the way I have stated, they were precisely alike in quality ; 
for on applying either of them to either pole of an ordinary magnet, 
they affected it exactly alike. But, not so, after they have been rubbed 
together, as above ; for after this process, one of them will be found to 
possess north polarity, and the other south; thus proving that though 
they were precisely alike in quality before, yet, this process has 
changed the quantity of both, and rendered them susceptible of attrac- 
tion or repulsion. 

" By all persons who have heretofore written on this subject, it has 
been assumed, as a matter of intuition, that what I denominate pathe- 
tism, or the 'human influence,' is conveyed from one system to 
another by the nerves of sensation, or motion, orboth. Hence it has 
been called the ■ nervous fluid,' ' nueraura,' &c. But no one of these 
theorists have ever been able to tell which class of the nerves, convey 
or receive this influence. Are they the nerves of sensation ? We 
have already seen that the process of pathetising most generally sus- 
pends the function of these nerves entirely. Are they the nerves of 
motion ? This process usually suspends the power of locomotion, and, 
indeed, all voluntary muscular motion throughout the system. Hence 
the conclusion is inevitable, that a distinct class of organs or 
nerves exist, constituting a part of the medullary matter, probably, 
whose functions are purely sympathetic. This accounts for the 
effects of pathetism, and shows how it is that sensations are conveyed 



NATURE OF ETHERIUM. 115 

time the mesmerizer should employ all the intermediate aids 
of gesture, look and respiration, yet at another, with equal 
success, influence his patient by the mere action of his mind 
and brain." 

Animal electricity. — In order still further to exhilit 
the analogy between electricity and the agent which pro- 
duces animal motions and etheropathic phenomena, T will 
give a few instances of the application of electricity to the 
bodies of animals and men. I do not wish to be understood 
as insisting that animal and human motions are produced 
by electricity, but that they are produced by a power 
which bears a very close resemblance to it in every essential 
quality. I consider the effects of human Etherium, mag- 



from the pathetiser to his somnipathist, without contact, and when the 
latter is wholly insensible to pain from violence done to the nerves of 
sensation. By this process the function is suspended, and at the same 
time, the subject may be made to suffer more from mere sympathy 
with the operator than he would from violence to his own system. 
All the sympathetic nervous sensibilities are heightened to an extra- 
ordinary degree, while the functions of the other nerves are partially 
or wholly suspended. 

" The susceptibility of different persons depends upon the develop- 
ments of the ganglionic, or sympathetic system, which unites the 
mind, and the nerves of sensation and motion. 

" The mind, and this susceptibility, or the sympathetic system, re- 
ciprocally act upon each other. The latter is the medium through 
which the emotions and volitions of mind are manifested, and through 
the same medium all its impressions are received. 

" By establishing a positive relation between two persons, the mind 
of one may thereby control the susceptibility of the other; or by ap- 
plying the hand of one to any part of" the other, different mental and 
physical changes, may thus be produced. Hence it follows, that the 
only influence extended from one mind or body to another, depends 
upon the kind of relation established between them, and the same is 
true, with regard to any influence felt by the living body, from any 
other cause. 

"It is a universal law of nature, that positive results are produced 
by a relation between an agent, and a subject, or two or more sub- 
stances, brought into relation with each other. It is only by estab- 
lishing a connection between two things or forms which differ in 
quality, that a positive result differing in quality from either of the 
two is produced. This is the first law of Pathetism, and from which 
we see how it is, that one may not be able to produce the same effects 
upon different persons." 



116 NATURE OF ETHERIUM. 

netic Etherium, and caloric Etherium, as but modified 
motions of one and the same substance, just as the different 
colors of light are but modified motions of one substance ; 
and as the different kinds of heat, recognized by Prof. 
Faraday, are but modifications of one general principle of 
caloric. 

I have no doubt that there are many different motions or 
modifications of human Etherium ; indeed, reasoning from 
analogy, there must be. It would also seem that those pond- 
erable substances which are conductors of one kind of ethe- 
rean motion are non-conductors or isolators of some other 
kinds. The whole subject is rich in material for philoso- 
phical inquiry and reflection. The following extracts will 
serve to illustrate these views : 

Extract of a letter to the London Electrical Society, from Andrew 
Crosse, Esq., published in Silliman's Journal, Vol. XXXV. No. 1. 
" Electricity is no longer the paltry confined science which it 
was once fancied to be, making its appearance only from the fric- 
tion of glass or wax, employed in childish purposes, serving as a 
trick for the school-boy, or a nostrum for the quack. But it is, 
even now, though in its infancy, proved to be most intimately con- 
nected with all operations in chemistry, with magnetism, with 
light and color ; apparently a property belonging to all matter, 
perhaps ranging through all space, from sun to sun, from planet 
to planet ; and not improbably the secondary cause of every change 
in the animal, mineral, vegetable and gaseous systems. It is to 
determine, to ascertain what rank in the tree of science electricity 
is to hold ; to endeavor to find out to what useful purposes it might 
be applied, that I conceive is the object of your Society ; and I shall 
at all times be ready and willing, as a member, to contribute my 
quota of information to its support, knowing well, that however 
little it might be, it will be as kindly received as it is humbly offer- 
ed. It is most unpleasing to my feelings to glance at myself as an 
individual, but I have met with so much virulence and abuse, so 
much calumny and misrepresentation, in consequence of the ex- 
periments which I am about to detail, and which it seems, in this 



NATURE OF ETHERIUM. 117 

nineteenth century, a crime to have made, that I must state, not for 
the sake of myself, (for I utterly scorn all such misrepresentations,) 
but for the sake of truth and the science which I follow, that I 
am neither an < atheist,' nor a « materialist,' nor a ' self-imagined 
creator ;' but a humble and lowly reverencer of that Great Being, 
whose laws my accusers seem to have lost sight of. More than 
this, it is my conviction, that science is only a means to a greater 
end. 

" I reduced a piece of black flint to powder, having first exposed 
it to a red heat, and quenched it in water to make it friable. Of 
this powder 1 took two ounces, and mixed them intensely with 
six ounces of carbonate of potassa, exposed them to a strong heat 
for fifteen minutes, in a black lead crucible, in an air furnace, and 
then poured the fused compound on an iron plate, reduced it to 
powder while still warm, poured boiling water on it, and kept it 
boiling for some minutes in a sand-bath. The greater part of the 
soluble glass thus fused, was taken up by the water, together with 
a portion of alumina from the crucible. I should have used one of 
silver, but had none sufficiently large. To a portion of the silicate 
of potassa thus fused, I added some boiling water to dilute, and 
then slowly added hydrochloric acid to supersaturation. A strange 
remark was made on this part of the experiment, at a meeting of 
the British Association at Liverpool, it being then gravely stated, 
that it was impossible to add an acid to a silicate of potassa with- 
out precipitating the silica ! This, of course, must be the case, un- 
less the solution be diluted with water. My object in subjecting 
this fluid to a long continued electric action, through the interven- 
tion of a porous stone, Was to form, if possible, crystals of silica 
at one of the poles of the battery, but I failed in accomplishing 
this by those means. On the fourteenth day from the commence- 
ment of the experiment, I observed, through a lens, a few small 
whitish excrescences or nipples projecting from about the middle 
of the electrified stone, and nearly under the dropping of the fluid 
above ; on the eighteenth day, these projections enlarged, and seven 
or eight filaments, each of them larger than the excrescence from 
which it grew, made their appearance on each of the nipples. 

" On the twenty-second day these appearances were more elevated 
and distinct, and on the twenty-sixth day, each figure assumed the 
form of a perfect insect, standing erect on a few bristles which 



118 NATURE OF ETHERIUM. 

formed its tail. Till this period I had no notion that these appear- 
ances were any other than an incipient mineral formation ; but it 
was not until the twenty-eighth day, when I plainly perceived 
these little creatures move their legs, that I felt any surprise, and I 
must own that when this took place, I was not a little astonished. 
I endeavored to detach, with the point of a needle, one or two of 
them that died, and 1 was obliged to wait patiently for a few days 
longer, when they separated themselves from the stone, and moved 
about at pleasure, although, they had been for sometime after birth 
apparently averse to motion. In the course of a few weeks, about 
a hundred of them made their appearance on the stone. I observed 
that at first each of them fixed itself for a considerable time in one 
spot, appearing, as far as I could judge, to feed by suction ; but 
when a ray of light from the sun was directed upon it, it seemed 
disturbed, and removed itself to the shaded part of the stone. Out 
of a hundred insects not above five or six were born on the south 
side of the stone. 1 examined some of them with the microscope, 
and observed that the smaller ones appeared to have only six legs, 
but the larger ones eight." 

Mr. Crosse, concludes, " 1st. I have not observed a formation of 
the insect, except on a moist and electrified surface, or under an 
electrified fluid. By this I do not mean to assert that electricity 
has any thing to do with their birth, as I have not made a sufficient 
number of experiments to prove or disprove it. 

" 2d. These insects do not appear to have originated from others 
similar to themselves, as they are formed in all cases with access 
of moisture, and in some cases two inches below the surface of the 
fluid in which they were born ; and if a full grown and perfect in- 
sect be let fall into any fluid, it is infallibly drowned. 

" 3d. I believe they live for many weeks ; occasionally 1 have 
found them dead in groups, apparently from want of food.* 

" P. S. — Since writing the above account, I have obtained the in- 
sects on a bare platina wire plunged into fluo-silicic acid, one inch 
below the surface of the fluid at the negative pole of a small battery 
of two inch plates in cells filled with water. This is a somewhat 
singular fluid for these insects to breed in who seem to have a 

* These interesting experiments have not yet been successfully 
repeated. 



NATURE OF ETHERIUM. 119 

flinty taste, although, they are by no means confined to siliceous 
fluids." 

The Rev. Mr. Townsend, iu his " Facts in Mesmerism," 
page 330, says : 

" I think, then, at present, that the most striking fact of which 
I have heard, relative to the identity of the nervous and electric 
agencies, is the discovery of Desmoulins, that the transmission of 
sensation and motion is made by the surface of the spinal marrow, 
and not by its central parts. This is exactly parallel to the action 
of electricity, which is developed only, and transmitted, along the 
surfaces of bodies. That nerves really do conduct a matter, simi- 
lar, at least, to the electric, has been also proved by the fact, that 
a magnet, held between the two sections of a recently divided 
nerve, was observed to be deflected, as by an electric current. 

" But the kind of electricity which is in the human frame, is, 
probably, a modification of the original principle. In many parti- 
culars it bears more resemblance to galvanism, and it is really ascer- 
tained, by experiments on dead animals, that the nervous fibre has 
a property of being galvanically affected, which (though varying, of 
course, like other properties, with the condition of the substance 
in which it resides) may be called inherent. Some most interest- 
ing specimens, by Dr. Elliotson, in which patients, by a re-enforce- 
ment of mesmeric pOwer, were shown capable of swinging round 
large weights, impossible to be even lifted by them in their ordinary 
condition, prove again the intimate connection between the mes- 
meric medium and the muscular force, which, as every one knows, 
is dependent on the state of the nerves, and by them conducted 
from the brain. If personal evidence may be allowed to have im- 
portance, I may add, that I am of an electric temperament; so 
much so, that long ago, when a child, I used to amaze and even 
alarm my young companions, by combing my hair before them in 
the dark, and exhibiting to them the electric coruscations. Of 
course, also, this phenomenon takes place most remarkably in a 
dry. and, therefore, non-conducting atmosphere. Now, between 
this electrical endowment and whatever mesmeric properties I may 
possess, there is a perfect relationship and parallelism. Whatever 
state of the atmosphere tends to carry off electricity from the body, 



120 NATURE OF ETHERIUM. 

hinders in so far my capacity for mesmerizing; and whatever state 
of the atmosphere tends to accumulate and insulate electricity in 
the body, promotes greatly the power and facility with which I 
influence others mesmerically. 

"My feelings of bodily health also vary with the plus or minus 
of electricity; and, perhaps, did persons oftener attend to such 
things, a similar phenomenon might not uncommonly be remarked. 
This, at least, we may admit, that the welfare of the human body 
depends on the equilibrium or proper distribution of its forces, and 
that the electric is one of these, just as much as heat or oxygen. 
The mesmeric force has, more than any other, been shown to be 
inherent in man; and, taking all the above facts into consideration, 
it is by no means a strained conclusion that it actually is that par- 
ticular modification of electricity which is appropriate to the hu- 
man constitution. When, then, after having mesmerized a person, 
I have a peculiar feeling of loss of strength and general uneasi- 
ness, which can by no means be traced to the usual causes, I am 
compelled to consider this as a proof that I have suffered by a tem- 
porary destruction of equilibrium in that medium wherewith I 
have charged another person; that medium, namely, which we 
have agreed to call mesmeric. That which greatly adds to the 
presumption is the fact that there is gain in the patient as there is 
loss in the mesmerizer. The tendency of mesmeric influence to 
restore equilibrium to the bodily forces is manifest. Under its ben- 
eficial action 1 have seen headaches cured, fatigue dissipated, and 
trifling bodily ailments removed in a short time." 

Muller, the celebrated physiologist, says, — 

" The stimulus of galvanism excites, in all the organs of sense, 
different sensations in each organ, namely, the sensation proper to 
it. In the eye, a feeble galvanic current excites the special sensa- 
tion of the optic nerve, namely, that of light. In the auditory nerve, 
electricity produces the sensation of sound. It has not, at present, 
been much observed, whether peculiar smells are produced by the 
application of galvanism to the organs of smell. Ritter, however, 
has perceived them; and it is a known fact, that the electricity ex- 
cited by friction, gives rise to the smell of phosphorous." 

" A steel needle, plunged into a nerve, becomes magnetic ; and 



NATURE OF ETHERIUM. 121 

on being withdrawn, it is found to have the power of attracting 
light substances. 

" Muller affirms, that efficient galvanic piles may be formed from 
organic animal substances, without the use of metals. Wienholn 
states that he has seen sparks obtained by bringing the divided 
ends of two nerves together. The electrical properties of the tor 
pedo, and a species of eel, are also well known. The gymnotus 
for instance, it would seem, possesses a complete galvanic battery 
Two troughs are found on each side of the spine, separated from 
each other by a ligament extending the whole length of the fish 
and the resemblance of this apparatus to the galvanic pile, is cer- 
tainly very remarkable." — Pathetism. 

" The rapidity, with which sensation and volition are communi- 
cated along the nerves, could not fail to suggest a resemblance to 
the mode in which the electric and galvanic fluids fly along con- 
ducting wires. Yet the great support of the opinion was in the ex- 
periments instituted by Dr. Wilson Philip and others, from which 
it appeared, that if the nerve proceeding to a part be destroyed, 
and the secretion, which ordinarily takes place in the part, be thus 
arrested, the secretion may be restored by causing the galvanic 
fluid to pass from one divided extremity of the nerve to the 
other. 

" The experiments, connected with secretion, will be noticed 
more at length hereafter. It will likewise be shown, that in the 
effect of galvanism upon the muscles, there is the same analogy ; — 
that the muscles may be made to contract for a length of time after 
the death of the animal, even when a limb has been removed from 
the body, on the application of the galvanic stimulus ; and compar- 
ative anatomy exhibits to us great development of nervous struc- 
ture in those^ electrical animals, which surprise us by the intensity 
of the electric shocks they are capable of communicating. 

" Physiologists of the present day generally, we think, accord 
with the electrical hypothesis. The late Dr. Young, so celebrated 
for his knowledge in numerous departments of science, adopted it 
prior to the interesting experiments of Dr. Philip ; and Mr. Aber- 
nethy, whilst he is strongly opposing the doctrines of materialism, 
goes so far as to consider some subtile fluid, not merely as the 
agent of nervous transmission, but as forming the essence of life 
itself. Dr. Bostock, however, has remarked, that before the elec- 
6* 



122 NATURE OF ETHERIUM. 

trie hypothesis can be considered proved, two points must be de- 
monstrated ; first, that every function of the nervous system may 
be performed by the substitution of electricity for the action of the 
nerves ; and secondly, that all the nerves admit of this substitution. 
This is true, as concerns the belief in the identity of the nervous 
and electrical fluids ; but we have, even now, evidence sufficient 
to show their similarity, and that we are justified in considering 
the nervous fluid as electroid or galvanoid in its nature, emanating 
from the brain by some action unknown to us, and distributed to 
the different parts of the system to supply the expenditure, which 
must be constantly going on." — Dunglison's Physiology, p. 87. 

The idea that the will of maa can direct Etherium or elec- 
tricity in such a manner as to produce Etheropathy or mes- 
merism, has been considered as inconsistent with the nature 
of electricity and also of the will; but in the case of the 
electric eel we have an instance of the will discharging the 
electric fluid w T ith such force as to paralyze the limbs of an- 
imals at a great distance, and even of their producing death 
by this power. Many very honest persons argue that the 
Deity would never bestow upon man such a wonderful pow- 
er as that which some experiments in Etheropathy indicate ; 
but the power possessed by the gymnotus is far greater than 
that possessed by man. The most wonderful feats that any 
mesmerizer ever pretended to perform are unequal to those 
which are habitually and instinctively performed by one of 
the very lowest and least intellectual of the vertebrated an- 
imals. Many objections which are urged against the doc- 
trines which I am advancing are entirely put to rest by the 
simple facts connected with the natural history of these in- 
teresting animals. Here we see electricity actually gener- 
ated in the animal body, accumulated in an insulated reser- 
voir, the outlet of which is perfectly under the control of the 
will, so that the fluid can be reserved or expended at plea- 
sure. We see the intellect directing the electric bolt with 
all the precision of an accomplished engineer, and projecting 
it with the most fatal effect upon its adversary. Like a 



NATURE OF ETHERIUM. 123 

skillful etherean operator or mesmerizer he ascertains the 
degree of susceptibility which is possessed by different 
bodies with which he comes in contact, so as not to exhaust 
his energies upon non-conductors. In short you see in one 
of the most stupid and insignificant animals, a realization of 
all the fabled powers of Olympian Jove. The exploits of 
Mesmer, Peysegur, or Elliotson sink into mere trifles com- 
pared with those of the electric eel ; and yet you will hear 
gentlemen who are renowned throughout the wide world for 
" learned ignorance" talk in the most oracular style of the 
utter improbability that the Deity would give one of his 
creatures such power over another. The following is from 
Rees' Encyclopedia : 

" From the observations of Condamine and others, engaged about 
the same time in a series of experiments on the electric properties 
of the electricus gymnotus, it is clearly demonstrated that the pow- 
er of this animal consists in a kind of genuine electricity, being 
equally capable of being conducted or intercepted by the same 
means as electricity. Thus, on touching the fish with the fingers, 
the same sensation is perceived as on touching the charged vial. 

" This electric faculty of the gymnotus, is apparently designed 
by nature to assist in the support of its existence ; the smaller 
fishes and other animals which happen to approach it, being in- 
stantly struck motionless, and dropping to the bottom of the water, 
become an easy prey. The shock this fish is capable of exerting, 
is so great as to deprive almost of sense and motion those who are 
exposed to its influence, and is therefore much dreaded by those 
who bathe in the rivers it inhabits. Some writers affirm, even, 
that the violence of the shock given by those of a larger size, is so 
great as to occasion instant death. Their average length is about 
three feet, but they are sometimes found in the river Surinam up- 
wards of twenty feet in length ; and the shock of one of these is 
said to prove instant death to the person who receives it. Electri- 
cal fishes are capable of repeating the shocks very frequently in a 
short space of time. 

" Mr. J no. Wash, in a letter to Dr. Franklin, says, that he reck- 
oned fifty .->hock.-3 in a minute and a half, given by a torpedo; and 



124 NATURE OF ETHERIUM. 

upon another occasion, he calculated that one hundred were deliv- 
ered in about five minutes. Much of the force of the shock depends 
upon the natural strength and vigor of the animal at the moment 
of the experiment. It is said to have very little electric power in 
the winter. It is much diminished if the fish remain for any time 
out of water. The shocks do not appear to be lessened in strength 
by repetition, unless the animal be otherwise exhausted. When 
the torpedo administers a shock, it is always observed to depress 
the eyes, and to make some movements of the lateral fins. The 
other electric fishes do not accompany these shocks by any visible 
muscular effort. However strong the shock of fishes may be, it 
has never been seen to produce the least noise nor luminous appear- 
ance — and it will not pass through the smallest portion of air; it 
must, therefore, be greatly deficient in intensity. The electricity 
of fishes has not the power of attracting floating substances. 
When a person is insulated, and touches the fish, he receives a shock 
as at other times, but gives no appearance of excess of electricity, 
however long he may keep up his communication with the animal. 
A Leyden phial also being put into contact with an electric eel, 
never becomes charged. It would appear that the electric phe- 

From the Penny Cyclopaedia : 

" When the battery is applied to a nerve of a person recently dead, 
and the circuit is completed, several violent motions ensue, de- 
pendent on the relative position of the nerve and muscle ; thus, when 
the wire communicates with the phrenic nerve, the muscles of respira- 
tion are set in motion ; when from the ulnar nerve to the spinal mar- 
row is included in the circuit, the fingers are set in quick motion and 
so on. Fishes are still more susceptible of this electric action than ani- 
mals, and strong convulsive motions will be exhibited by a live floun- 
der placed on a zinc dish and having a piece of copper or silver on it9 
back, as soon as the two metals come in contact : similar effects take 
place with leeches, worms and amphibious animals. 

" It was thought by Volta that the involuntary muscles, such as the 
heart, could not be thus excited, but experiment has decided against 
him. 

" When the secretion was suspended by cutting the eighth pair of 
nerves, Dr. Philip and several French anatomists have restored it by 
establishing a galvanic current through the divided part of the nerves 
next the stomach. 

" Intermittent currents have been employed in the experiments of 
Masson, Peltier and Delarive. To effect this, M. Masson used a 
toothed wheel rotating by a cord round it; its axis, supporter and 
itself being all metallic; a communication is formed between this 
wheel and a battery in the form of a helix: the object of the teeth of 



NATURE OF ETHERIUM. 125 

nomena of fishes are produced in a manner different from every 
species of physical electricity.* All experimentalists, agree that 
they regulate the strength, and frequency of the shocks at 
pleasure. 

" Dr. Williamson, relates, that some small fishes heing thrown 
into the same water where an electric eel was swimming, it imme- 
diately killed and swallowed them, but a larger fish being thrown 
in, it was also killed, although, it was too large for the eel to swal- 
low ; another fish was thrown into the water, at some distance 
from the eel, it swam up to the fish, but presently turned away, 
without offering it any violence; after some time it returned, 



the wheel is occasionally to suspend the action of the current by 
making the connecting rod of too great a length ; hence, when the 
wheel is made to revolve, the galvanic current acts and is suspended 
alternately. By a series of intermitted discharges produced in this 
manner, M. Masson had the cruel pleasure of killing a cat. 

* " P. Santi Linari drew the electric spark from the gymnotusin the 
following manner : — he took a glass tube of the shape of a capital U, 
which he partly filled with mercury ; at each end was fixed an iron 
wire through a wooden button, and which reached very near the 
mercury. The apparatus being fixed with mastic on varnished wood, 
the end of the wires were made to touch short platina wires termi- 
nated by lamina? of the same metal intended to make a good communi- 
cation with the different parts of the electrical fish When the circuit 
was formed, a spark visible even in the daylight appeared at the place 
where the conductors were interrupted. This experiment he has 
repeated in different forms." (Biblioth. Univ. de Geneve.) 

" Galvanism, in its action on the human system, resembles electricity, 
yet it is distinguished by certain peculiarities. In its application it 
can be rendered more continuous and uniform, and may, like elec- 
tricity, be administered either in shocks, or in a regular flow of gal- 
vanic influence through the body. It possesses more power over the 
chemical actions of the body than electricity, and promotes more com- 
pletely those processes of decomposition and recomposition which take 
place in the living frame, as well as the functions of organic life, than 
common electricity. But the chief distinction consists in the differ- 
ence of action of the two poles. Each pole excites a peculiar pheno- 
mena in the organs to which it is applied. This difference is less per- 
ceptible when mere shocks are administered, than when a continuous 
stream of galvanic influence is transmitted from one point to another of 
the body. The positive pole more particularly influences the muscular 
and vascular system, while the negative pole more especially affects 
the nervous system. At the positive pole there is felt the shock, 
strong movements, a feeling of concentration and contraction, increased 
warmth and mobility of the part, with gradual diminution of the 
secretion and sensibility. At the negative pole the pain and sensibility 
are stronger and more acute, the organ expands, is more irritable, while 



126 NATURE OF ETHERIUM. 

when, seeming to view it for a few seconds, it gave the fish a 
shock, upon which it instantly turned up its belly and continued 
motionless. A third fish was thrown into the water, to which 
the eel gave such a shock, that it turned on its side, but continued 
to give signs of life ; the eel seeming to observe this, as it was 
turning away, immediately returned and struck it quite mo- 
tionless." 

the muscular action and mobility are lessened. The difference of their 
action on the secreting powers is best seen by applying the respective 
poles to a surface which has been recently deprived of its cuticle, such 
as where a blister has been. The positive pole changes the serous 
secretion into that of lymph, which at last becomes thready; the part 
dries and is inflamed. The negative pole causes an abundant secretion 
of a dark-colored, highly acrid *fluid, which excoriates the skin over 
which it flows, the part also experiences an enduring irritation. Atonic 
swellings are rendered harder, should they not become inflamed by the 
positive pole, while frequently by the negative pole they are dispersed 
and resolved. Notwithstanding the possession of such powerful 
properties, galvanism has not produced so valuable results in medicine 
as might have been anticipated. This comparative failure is, no doubt, 
to be attributed to errors in the mode of applying it. It may be proper 
however to remark, that it was urgently recommended during the 
prevalence of the Asiatic cholera, but the results were not satisfactory. 
Like many other powerful agents, it was not used till a very late stage 
in the complaint, when recovery was almost impossible. It is also to 
be doubted whether galvanism be at all applicable to cholera, since it 
appears that the continued application of it causes death, by inducing 
inflammation of the lungs, in cases of animals where the eighth pair of 
nerves have been divided, more speedily than where the same nerves 
have been divided in animals to which the galvanic power was not ap- 
plied as a substitute for the nervous. Inflammation is the invariable 
consequence of the application of the positive pole ; while the negative 
pole would cause a flow of acrid secretion which could not benefit the 
patient. The identity of electricity, whether common or galvanic, 
with the nervous power, is much to be questioned." 



SECTION IV 



OXYGEN. 

Having shown the nature of Etherium, I proceed to in- 
quire how its motion is generated in the human constitution, 
through the agency of oxygen. 

In 1774, Dr. Priestly discovered that the atmospheric air 
is composed of two different substances- — one of which has 
since received the name of oxygen ; and it has been found 
to perform a more important part in chemical combinations 
than any other ponderable substance with which we are ac- 
quainted. The burning of fuel and other substances, is 
caused by the combination of oxygen with some of their 
component elements. The rusting and tarnishing of metals 
is caused by their surfaces forming a chemical union with 
oxygen. Most of the substances which are commonly call- 
ed earths, are, in reality, but a combination of oxygen with 
some metal ; this is true of soda, potash, lime, magnesia, 
etc. Water is a combination of oxygen with hydrogen. 
Paints are all composed of some metal, combined with 
oxygen. The common galvanic battery derives its 
power from the union of oxygen with its metallic plates. 
The blood of all animals is stimulating and nourishing 
in proportion to the amount of oxygen which it con- 
tains — no animal can live a moment without oxygen : and, 
finally, the number and force — that is, the quantity — of ani- 
mal motions, is in proportion to the amount of oxygen 
which they require. The motions of animals are undoubt- 
edly produced by the agency of Etherium ; this is the set- 



128 OXYGEN. 

tied opinion of those physiologists who are most capable, 
from their knowledge and experience, of forming a correct 
j udgment upon this subject. It is also admitted, that oxygen 
is directly related to animal motions. Now the question to 
be determined is, what relation has oxygen to Etherium ? 
and what relation has it to the animal motions which Etheri- 
um produces ? 

The following seems to me the most reasonable explana- 
tion, and one which will receive the approbation of philo- 
sophic minds : 

Every chemical change or combination is accompanied 
with a motion of Etherium, whether we perceive it or not. 
Some motions, thus produced, are more powerful than others ; 
and the more powerful neutralize the weaker, or cause them 
to conform. The motions of animals are produced in a 
manner so very analogous to those produced by galvanism, 
as to excite a suspicion in the minds of all scientific men 
that they are produced in a similar manner in both cases. 
We examine to see what there is in common, and the first 
and must striking fact that arrests our attention, in both ope- 
rations, is, the agency of oxygen. In both instances, we 
find oxygen drawn from the atmosphere to combine with a 
liquid ; in both instances the liquid comes in contact with 
a substance which has a greater affinity for oxygen ; this 
substance, whatever it may be, unites with the oxygen and 
forms an oxide ; instantly an invisible agent, which I call 
Etherium, is evolved, (or, rather, amotion of Etherium pro- 
duced,) which in one case is adapted to move an iron ma- 
chine, and in the other, a muscular machine. 

The conclusion is irresistible, that oxygen, by its chemi-„ 
cal combinations, produces the motions of Etherium in both 
machines. 

It is the office of the stomach to furnish the materials of 
nourishment, (carbon and hydrogen,) and of the lungs to 
furnish oxygen, the material of motion. This is the reason 



OXYGEN. 129 

why vegetables, which have little or no occasion to move, 
use so little oxygen ; and why animals use an amount of 
oxygen exactly in proportion to their motions. It is the 
reason why the predominance of the digestive functions 
causes fat (which is composed of carbon and hydrogen) to 
accumulate ; while the preponderance of the lungs and 
brain is generally accompanied with leanness ; as the fat 
(carbon and hydrogen) is used up in combining with oxygen 
to produce motion. 

This explains why sleep is useful, as it enables fat to 
accumulate for the supply of the oxygen needed to sustain 
motion when awake. 

During sleep there is just oxygen enough furnished to 
supply motion to the involuntary organs ; during waking, 
enough to supply both voluntary and involuntary. Oxygen 
is used immediately after it is received ; carbon and hydro- 
gen may (in the form of fat) be reserved until needed. 
There is generally more carbon and hydrogen secreted than 
used during sleep, and the surplus is reserved to be used 
while awake. 

The reason why sleep is necessary, is, because we do 
not digest and secrete fast enough to supply carbon and hy- 
drogen for the oxygen which it would require to move 
voluntary and involuntary organs twenty-four hours. 

The conclusion is, that the quantity of motion of Ethe- 
rium generated in a man, is in proportion to the quantity of 
oxygen which combines with his food ; and the quantity of 
oxygon which combines with food in a given time, depends 
upon the size and perfection of the lungs and stomach, the 
proportion which they, bear to each other, and the expendi- 
ture of material made in producing voluntary and involun- 
tary motion. 

There are many other modes by which Etherium may be 
set in motion without the agency of oxygen, but 1 contend 
that this is the use to which respired oxygen is put in the 
animal system. 



SECTION V 



SLEEP. 

NEW PHILOSOPHY OF ORDINARY SLEEP. 

Vegetables sleep incessantly, all their actions being in- 
voluntary.* The motions of animals are divided into volun- 
tary and involuntary. When the animal is performing 
involuntary motions only, he is said to be asleep. When 
he is performing voluntary motions he is awake. There is 
a very great difference among animals in regard to the time 
which they spend in sleep ; there is also a difference in this 
respect among men ; and a difference in the same individual 
at different periods of life, and in different states of health. 

The only theories of sleep which have ever been pro- 
posed that I know of, are founded upon the idea that sleep 
is necessary to restore to the body the substance which it 
loses by its operations during the waking period, and to 
give the organs an opportunity to rest. It is spoken of as 

" Tired nature's sweet restorer, balmy sleep." 

This is the view supported, or rather assumed, by Mr. 
McNish, in his "Philosophy of Sleep ;" and it is maintained 

* Some have asserted that vegetables sleep, because during night 
they suspend some of their functions ; but this cannot properly be con- 
sidered analogous to the sleep of animals unless we admit vegetables to 
be conscious beings, and consider the parts which during night sus- 
pend their functions as voluntary organs. That which seems to re- 
semble sleep in vegetables is owing to the withdrawal of the stimulus 
which during the day they received from the sun. 



SLEEP. 131 

by Prof. Liebig in his excellent work on " Animal Chemis- 
try." After making an accurate calculation of the amount 
of force which an adult man expends in a day, he says : 

" This supply of force is furnished in a seven hour's sleep." 

Again he says : 

" The adult man sleeps seven hours, and wakes seventeen 
hours ; consequently, if the equilibrium be restored in twenty-four 
hours, the mechanical effects (muscular motions) produced in 
seventeen hours must be equal to the effects produced during seven 
hours in the formation of new parts." " If in the adult man the 
consumption of force for mechanical purposes, in twenty-four 
hours, be augmented beyond the amount restorable in seven hours 
of sleep, then, if the equilibrium is to be restored, less force, in 
the same proportion, must be expended in mechanical effects in the 
next twenty-four hours. If this be not done, the mass of the 
body decreases, and the state characteristic of old age more or less 
decidedly supervenes." 

Having thus fairly stated the received doctrine on this 
subject, I will now briefly give my own views, which are 
essentially different. 

I consider the cause of sleep to be the predominant influ- 
ence of the involuntary system over the voluntary, which 
enables the involuntary system to monopolize all the avail- 
able force, and appropriate it to its own purposes ; leaving 
the voluntary system without the means of sustaining its 
operations, it pauses of course ; — this is sleep, and its 
cause. The force which continues both systems in action, 
is generated by the combination of carbon and hydrogen, 
with oxygen. Oxygen is continually furnished in a suffi- 
cient quantity, but the carbon and hydrogen is not produced 
in a proper state and proper place to combine with oxygen, 
and produce force with sufficient rapidity to supply the con- 
stant demands which voluntary and involuntary systems 
would both make upon it, if they should both keep active 



132 SLEEP. 

incessantly. This deficiency is compensated by sleep ; not 
as McNish and Liebig suppose, because sleep is necessary 
to restore the equilibrium of substance ; for sleep is not ne- 
cessary for this purpose. There is a restoration continually 
going on when we are awake, but it does not go on fast 
enough to keep pace with the waste ; and when the reser- 
voir is exhausted to a certain point, the struggle commences 
between the two systems ; a struggle in which the involun- 
tary system always triumphs sooner or later. If the brain 
is greatly excited, it maintains the contest longer ; but if all 
is quiet, monotonous and peaceful, while the stomach is 
excited by food easy of digestion, the involuntary system 
easily prevails over its antagonist, the brain, inducts it and 
puts it to sleep. 

In harmony with this theory, we find that {ceteris paribus) 
those who digest their food with great rapidity, and whose 
secretions are rapid, of course, sleep but little ; while those 
who digest and secrete very slowly, sleep much. This pro- 
position must be understood with the proper qualifications 
of ceteris paribus, or all else equal ; for there are other facts 
which must be taken into the account, and some of them of 
much importance. One is, the size of the brain compared 
with the body. When the brain is large in proportion to the 
rest of the body, all else equal, there is a greater tendency 
to keep awake ; and when the brain is small, there is a 
greater tendency to sleep. Another modifying circumstance, 
is, the number of different powers of mind possessed by the 
individual; for some animals possess a greater number of 
mental organs than others. Another circumstance, is, the 
relative size of the higher organs of the brain compared with 
the lower, as the higher organs prevent sleep by producing 
reflection. Now, take an instance for illustration, where 
all the conditions are favorable to wakefulness : 1. When 
the food is such (meat) as to be rapidly and easily digest- 
ed ; 2. When the lungs are very large, so as to demand 



SLEEP. 133 

rapid digestion ; 3. Where the brain is large compared with 
the rest of the body ; 4. Where the number of the mental 
organs, as in man, is greater than in other animals ; and, 
5. Where the higher organs are much larger, in proportion, 
than the lower. If my theory is correct, such a person will 
sleep but little. On the contrary, let all the conditions just 
stated be reversed, and the individual will sleep much from 
unavoidable necessity. The basis of Mr. Liebig's error 
(if I may venture respectfully to speak of the error of a very 
justly distinguished man) consists, as I apprehend, in as- 
suming that, to use his own language — 

" A living part cannot increase in volume at the same moment 
in which a portion of it loses the vital condition, and is expelled 
from the organ in the form of a lifeless compound ; on the con- 
trary, it must diminish." " And only from the period at which 
the cause of waste ceases to operate, can the capacity of growth be 
manifested." " And, if the original equilibrium is to be restored, 
we must suppose that, during sleep, an amount of force is accumu- 
lated in the form of living tissue, exactly equal to that which was 
consumed in voluntary and involuntary motion during the preced- 
ing waking period." 

To annihilate this doctrine, it is only necessary to carry it 
out to its consequences ; for, if it is true that a part cannot 
grow until the cause of waste ceases to operate, then, the 
heart and all the involuntary organs, are unable to manifest 
their capacity of growth at any time during life. But we 
know that they do grow, and we know that they continually 
waste, and yet they do " increase in volume at the same mo- 
ment in which a portion of them loses the vital condition, fyc. 
What we know of the involuntary organs in this respect, we 
have a right to assume of the voluntary ; that is, that they 
are capable of growing while they are in operation, and 
that sleep is not therefore necessary to the continuation of 
life, excepting so far as it economizes force. 



134 SLEEP. 

Again, Mr. Liebig's assumption is not true, that, all else 
equal, — 

" The mechanical force available for work, is directly propor- 
tional to the number of hours' sleep." 

It would, doubtless, be true, if the restoration of substance 
and the acquisition of force could only take place during 
sleep ; but I have already shown that this is not true, and 
consequently, the assumption of a regular proportion of 
force to sleep is also without basis. It is at war with facts. 
Birds, that sleep less than any other animals, surpass all ani- 
mals in the amount and velocity of their motions. In pro- 
portion to their size they certainly expend more force in 
voluntary motions than any other animals ; and yet, accord- 
ing to Mr. Liebig, they accumulate less, because they sleep 
less. It cannot be said that they sleep so much sounder 
than other animals, that they are therefore enabled to accu- 
mulate enough in their brief sleep to support their long con- 
tinued and vigorous motions, for their sleep is not only brief, 
but very light and imperfect. They are so easily waked that 
it seems doubtful whether they are ever entirely asleep. 
According to my theory it is easy to understand that an 
animal of this kind could entirely dispense with sleep : I do 
not doubt that some birds might be kept awake continually. 
It is said, indeed, that fishes never sleep, and I can readily 
believe it ; for with their rapid digestion and little expendi- 
ture of force, balanced as they are in the water and sustained 
by the gravity of their native element so as to need but little 
exertion to propel themselves about, there is little occasion 
for sleep if my views are correct ; but, according to Mr. 
Liebig, they ought to sleep during the whole time that they 
are growing ; and the amount of their sleep ought to be 
proportional to the amount of growth added to the amount 
of substance expended in all their motions ; this is certainly 
not true, and, therefore, Mr. Liebig is certainly and obvi- 



SLEEP. 135 

ously wrong on this point, notwithstanding the genius which 
he has exhibited in so many other departments of inquiry. 
As I propose to illustrate this interesting subject more in 
detail on some future occasion, I will not pursue it further 
in this work. It seems, then, that the immediate cause of 
sleep is that the involuntary system actually inducts or 
mesmerizes the brain ; at certain regularly returning periods, 
monopolizes, for its own use, all the force then on hand, 
and proceeds to accumulate substance until the stimulus of 
the external world prevails and inducts the external senses 
and brain sufficiently to produce waking. 

The apparent design of the Creator in ordaining sleep, is 
to prevent the unnecessary expenditure of force. Accord- 
ingly, those animals, or those parts of animals, whose cir- 
cumstances require continual action, never sleep. To illus- 
trate : horses sleep standing, rabbits with their eyes open — 
it is said that fishes never sleep, and we know that the heart 
never sleeps. 



SECTION VI 



THE ORGAN OF C ON S C I OU N E S S . 

It is impossible to avoid the conclusion, that there is a 
central organ of Consciousness in the brain, where all the 
other organs of mind concentrate their forces, where their 
relative influence is appreciated, and their relative claims to 
superiority weighed and allowed. — An organ of Conscious- 
ness, to which all the other organs of the brain, and all the 
various external organs of sensation are merely auxiliaries. 
All the organs of the brain which are concerned in thought 
and feeling, converge to this grand centre, and all the nerves 
of voluntary motion diverge from it. 

The organ of Consciousness is located in the medulla ob- 
longata — this is the point where sensation terminates, and 
volition commences — this is the seat of Consciousness. The 
proof is derived from experiment ; for, if the brain above 
and the spinal cord below, are both destroyed, conscious- 
ness still continues, provided the medulla oblongata and its 
nerves are uninjured ; but if the oblongata is destroyed, con- 
sciousness is also destroyed. This is conclusive and un- 
answerable proof. The precise minute point where Con- 
sciousness holds its mysterious throne, whether it is exactly 
at the place where the pneumogastric nerve is inserted, or the 
twentieth or the third part of an inch above it, is not yet ascer- 
tained, nor is it material ; it is certain that it is not below the 
place where that nerve is inserted ; it is certain that it is not an 
inch above. This is what we know, and all we know, of the 
location of Consciousness — the sanctorum of the mind. There 



CONSCIOUSNESS. 137 

is other evidence which confirms this, but none which so 
decidedly settle the question. Thus, we find that the prin- 
cipal fibres of the brain converge to this point, and we find 
all the nerves of sensation and of voluntary motion in direct 
communication with it. Its intermmediate position between 
the brain and spinal cord, the fact that it is possessed by all 
animals of the vertebrated class, the fact that some animals 
have more and others less phreno-organs superadded to the 
oblongata — but none are without this important part — all 
conspire to sustain and illustrate the decisive experiments by 
which this is proved to be the location of the organ of Con- 
sciousness. 



" The spinal marrow is sensible along the whole of its posterior 
column, but it also acts only as a conductor of the impression. 
Flourens destroyed the spinal cord from below, by slicing it away, 
and he found that sensibility was gradually extinguished in the 
parts corresponding to the destroyed medulla, but that the parts 
situated above evidently continued to feel. Perception therefore 
occurs in the encephalon ; and not in the whole but in some of its 
parts. Many physiologists, amongst whom may be mentioned 
Haller, Lorry, Rolando and Flourens, have sliced away the brain, 
and found that the sensations continued until the knife reached the 
level of the corpora quadrigemina ; and again it has been found, 
that if the spinal cord be sliced away from below upwards, the 
sensations persist until we reach the medulla oblongata. It is, 
then, in the medulla oblongata that we must place the cerebral or- 
gans of the senses, and it is with this part of the cephalo-spinal 
axis, that the nerves of the senses are found to communicate. 

" Mr. Lawrence saw a child with no more encephalon than a 
bulb, which was a continuation for about an inch above the fora- 
men magnum of ihe medulla spinalis, and with which all the 
nerves from the fifth to the ninth pair were connected, The child's 
breathing and temperature were natural ; it took food, and at first 
moved very briskly. It lived four day-." — Dunglison's Physiology, 
p. 83. 

7 



138 THE ORGAN OF 

The location of Consciousness is not, in itself, a very im- 
portant or essential circumstance, provided it be admitted 
that there is such an organ, and that it has a location some- 
where in the brain ; the philosophy founded upon Conscious- 
ness would be the same if its location were utterly unknown. 
Dr. Reid, the greatest of the Scotch philosophers, -advo- 
cated the doctrine that Consciousness is a distinct power of 
the mind, but did not attempt to give it a local habitation. 
Aristotle and the ancient philosophers considered the brain 
as the sensoiium, .but did not designate any particular portion 
as especially entitled to that name. Descartes considered 
the pineal gland as the seat of the soul. Darwin and many 
modern physiologists use the term sensorium to signify the 
seat of the mind, wherever it may be. The researches and 
experiments of the anatomists of France and Italy, which 
have been made within the last hundred years upon living 
animals, with a design of ascertaining the offices which are 
performed by different portions of the brain, have been very 
numerous, and have cost much labor, and excited much 
discussion. Those experiments have, however, been of but 
little use, except so far as relates to the seat of Conscious- 
ness. They demonstrated that life is independent of the - 
brain ; that respiration and volition is dependent upon the 
brain ; that the medulla oblongata is the centre of volition 
and sensation ; and that the brain, all excepting the medulla 
oblongata, may be taken away, and respiration and volition 
and the signs of Consciousness remain. These experiments 
seemed to be at war with the doctrines of Gall and Spurz- 
heim, and their fairness was consequently denied by the ad- 
vocates of phrenology ; none of them have considered the 
experiments as affording evidence of the truth of phrenology, 
though in reality they do so, if the doctrines which I have 
advanced respecting Consciousness, are admitted to be 
correct. 

All the phrenological writers seem to have entertained 



CONSCIOUSNESS. 139 

the most vague notions concerning Consciousness. Both 
Spurzheim and Combe, and indeed all other phrenologians, 
deny the existence of Consciousness as a separate power of 
the mind. They seemed to have a notion that each mental 
power has a Consciousness of its own, in some way, which 
they did not attempt to define, and probably did not them- 
selves clearly comprehend. The opponents of phrenology 
have not failed to avail themselves of this weak point in 
the science. The}' have triumphantly demanded, " What 
constitutes the unity of mind — the unity of Consciousness in 
our system of phreno-philosophy V They have justly cha- 
racterized the science as a federal republic without a com- 
mon executive — a circumference without a centre ; and 
though they were inclined to admit that phrenology has 
added some useful facts to our stock of knowledge on this 
subject, it is not itself entitled, in their opinion, to the 
claims which its friends set up for it, to be considered as a 
systematic science.* There was, indeed, but too much truth 
in this criticism, and I hope that this introduction of the 
organ of Consciousness will in a great measure obviate not 
only this difficulty, but many others which previously lay 
in the way of the metaphysicians. The error of Spurzheim 
on this point, which was adopted by Combe and other fol- 
lowers of that illustrious man, may be traced in all his works, 
and in the works of all his disciples. Spurzheim divided 
the powers of the mind into feelings and intellectual facul- 
ties. He reckoned twenty different organs of feelings, besides 
fifteen thinking faculties. He and Combe also speak repeat- 
edly of these different powers, as operating sometimes in 
harmony, and sometimes in antagonism ; but did not seem 
to think it necessary to point out the common ground upon 
which their harmony or antagonism is displayed, and 
without which it is impossible that it can be displayed at all. 

* See Henry's History of Philosophy, article Cabanis, 



140 THE ORGAN OF 

If we say that Consciousness is dependant upon a material 
organ, it may be objected that it is then compound in its 
material constitution, and consequently liable, after death, 
to be decomposed, and, of course, its identity annihilated. I 
answer that the organ of Consciousness is not necessarily 
compound. The essential element of the organ may, for 
aught we know, be an ultimate and indivisible atom of 
matter, which has the inherent property of being conscious, 
when placed in proper relations to the senses and other 
organs, so as to have this property excited. An indivisible, 
indestructible atom of matter, is immortal in its existence and 
its identity ; and if it is capable of Consciousness, when 
placed in proper circumstances, then Consciousness is im- 
mortal, though it may remain dormant for ages for want of 
the proper circumstances to excite it. There are some 
reasons for suspecting that every atom of matter in exist- 
ence is capable of Consciousness, when placed in the cir- 
cumstances and conditions favorable to its development.* 

It is quite certain that Consciousness can exist, in all its 
power of thought and feeling, in a particle of matter so ex- 
ceedingly minute, that the most perfect microscope cannot 
perceive it. This is demonstrated by the phenomena pre- 
sented by that wonderful order of animals, the Infusoria, 
some of which, according to an accurate and mathematical 
measurement by Ehrenberg and Dr. Prichard,are so diminu- 
tive that twenty-five thousand of them can stand in a row 
upon a line which is less than an inch in length, and eigbt 

"Locke tells of a man who recollected distinctly that his conscious 
principle, or soul, was once the soul of Socrates. Now if conscious- 
ness depends upon an ultimate material particle, it is not impossible 
thai I lie very identical consciousness which is now possessed by Queen 
>ria was once possessed by Queen Maud; and it may be that if 
Her Majesty will resolutely set to work, she may be able to recollect 
the circumstance. If this principle be admitted, it maybe also that 
the future state, condition, and associations of Consciousness, will 
be dependant upon the aptitudes and habits, the moral and phy- 
sical sympathies and antipathies which it has acquired in its past and 
present state — but we can no longer touch bottom. 



CONSCIOUSNESS. 141 

millions can occupy less space than a mustard seed. Now, 
when we reflect that each of these animals has limbs, mouth, 
organs of digestion*, an involuntary and voluntary system, 
With a central Consciousness — how large a space can we 
suppose the central Consciousness occupies ? That it exists 
in them, as in us, no one will deny ; it is also plain that 
it does not occupy the whole of the body in them any 
more than it does in us ; for in their case, as in ours, a limb 
may be destroyed and yet Consciousness remain. In them, 
as in us and all animals, it occupies a central position, distinct 
in its nature and function from, yet in connection with, all 
the voluntary organs. Now, it can be easily demonstrated 
that Consciousness cannot possibly occupy this central posi- 
tion in relation to the other organs of the animal, with- 
out being limited to a space more than two hundred times 
smaller than that which the rest of the animal occupies. 
As eight millions of the animals occupy less space than a 
mustard seed, therefore, sixteen hundred millions of organs 
of Consciousness may exist in a space smaller than that filled 
by a mustard seed* Surely, after this, no one will cavil 
about the organ of Consciousness being supposed to exist in 

* Infusoria. This term has been applied to the numerous minute 
animals found in water, which are commonly called animalcules. 

The invention of the microscope by Hooke, revealed the existence of 
myriads of living creatures, whose presence was before unknown; and 
this instrument has shown that a drop of water, though it may appear 
to the naked eye to be perfectly clear, is perhaps swarming with living 
beings. Ehrenberg (whose labors have principally contributed to the 
knowledge of the true nature and structure of the infusory animalcules) 
has described species which are not larger than from one thousandth to 
one two-thousandth of a line (a line is one-twelfth of an inch) in diam- 
eter, and which are separated from one another by intervals not greater 
than their own size. A cubic inch of water may thus contain more than 
eiirht hundred thousand millions of these beings, estimating them only 
to occupy one-fourth of its space ; and a single drop (measuring not more 
than a line in diameter) placed under the microscope, will be seen to 
to hold five hundred millions, an amount perhaps nearly equal to the 
whole number of human beings on the surface of the globe. 

Distinct organs of digestion may be demonstrated in all the species. 
Ehrenberg says, " all true Infusoria, even the smallest monads, are or- 



142 THE ORGAN OF 

the smallest possible atom of matter, indivisible and inde- 
structible. This course of reasoning is useful in teaching 
us that the nature of Consciousness is beyond our grasp ; 
that we cannot investigate it by the observation of material 
bodies ; that we can only know its existence in a general 

ganized animal bodies, and distinctly provided with at least a mouth 
and internal nutritive apparatus." 

Speaking of the wonderful power of the infusorial animals to mul- 
tiply by the mysterious process of self-division, Prof. Ehrenberg says: 

" The possibility of the multiplying of an individual to a million, in 
less than forty-eight hours, was exhibited in them by the mere process 
that each single animalcule can divide itself, within one hour, com- 
pletely lengthwise or across, and after the lapse of one hour's rest, can 
repeat the same thing. The vast effect of this activity, is, that a sin- 
gle animalcule, perfectly invisible to the naked eye, can possibly be 
increased in four days to 140 billions of independent animalcules. 
In the polishing slate of Berlin, about 41,000 millions of these crea- 
tures form one cubic inch of stone, as may easily aud pretty accurately 
be determined, &c."— Transactions of the Royal Academy of Berlin, 
1S40. 

In contrast with these views, it will be interesting to read the fol- 
lowing brief extract from Dr. Lardner's Lectures : 

" A star of the seventh magnitude can easily be compared with one 
of the first, in point of splendor, by the photometer — just as the light 
of a sperm candle can be compared with that of a lamp. Sir Johj* 
Herschel has compared the splendor of a star of the sixteenth magni- 
tude with that of one of the first, and has found that the light of the 
latter is equal to three hundred and sixty-two times that of the former. 
From this it may be inferred that the distance of a star of the sixteenth 
magnitude is such that it would require thousands of years for its light 
to reach our system. These considerations present to our minds most 
comprehensive views of the economy of the Universe. For if light 
requires a thousand years to come from any of these plainly distin- 
guishable stars, there can be no doubt that it takes twenty times as 
long to come from others ; and what are we to infer from this but that 
there are visible objects in the universe which 20,000 years ago exist- 
ed as they are now seen. Light left these stars 20,000 years ago, and 
has just reached the earth upon which we live. For 20,000 years 
past, then, these stars, for aught we know, may not have existed. The 
objects we see to-day are not the objects of to-day : the Sirius that we 
see to-day is not the Sirius of to-day. The light by which we see it left 
that star three years ago, and from that day to this we have known 
nothing of it. Into what a singular historical state does this view 
throw creation ! Our system, then, exists at an enormous distance 
from the nearest of the fixed stars, and look in what direction we may, 
the same chasm yawns between us and it." 



CONSCIOUSNESS. 143 

manner from experience, and its location by experiments 
which can only approximate to exactness. 

Nor does this investigation shed any light upon the sub- 
ject of immortality. If man is necessarily immortal because 
he is endowed with an indestructible organ of Consciousness, 
then so is every insect and reptile and all the infinite va- 
riety of vermin that have ever infested the earth ; and sci- 
ence offers as powerful an argument in favor of their im- 
mortality as that of man. Of all the investigations of scien- 
tific men, none has excited the jealousy of sectarians as 
much as the one we have now under consideration ; almost 
even* philosopher who has manifested a disposition to ap- 
proach the subject fearlessly and examine it with independ- 
ence, has had the mad-dog cry raised against him of fatalism, 
materialism, or heresy. Man}^ of our modern authors have 
been so far influenced by this outcry, that they have evi- 
dently suppressed their true sentiments and smothered their 
conscientious convictions to avoid the relentless persecutions 
which arise from bigotry and superstition. The only road 
to the favor of this potent and numerous class of tyrants, is 
to make a profound mystery of everything relating to mind ; 
all explanation or even demonstration is condemned by them 
as unpardonable heresy, dangerous to religion, and incon- 
sistent with their own narrow views of the holy scriptures. 
Nothing has had so injurious an effect upon the fair and 
successful investigation of this subject, as even the well- 
meant interference of tnese self-appointed theological critics, 
and nothing can be more injudicious and misplaced than 
their animadversions. The truth is, the subject is not fairly 
within their jurisdiction and therefore they have no right to 
meddle with it. The immortality of the soul can neither 
be proved nor disproved by the demonstrations of natural 
science. We may examine the nerves and the brain as 
much as we please ; we may prove to a certainty that Con- 
sciousness maintains its seat in the very centre of the oblon- 



144 THE ORGAN OF 

gata ; we may determine the precise, individual, ultimate 
atom in which it resides with all its prerogatives, where 
it receives its impressions through the senses and sends 
forth its mandates through the motor nerves ; we may 
prove that it is dependent upon the various phreno-organs, 
the currents of Etherium, and their modifications in the 
different avenues ; and yet the subject is as far beyond 
our comprehension as before — we can discover nothing that 
illustrates or illuminates immortality. If all was doubt and 
obscurity when we began the search by the light of nature, 
reason and science, it is equally obscure now ; and from the 
nature of the subject it could not possibly be otherwise. 
We have come to the wrong place to learn the nature of 
the immortal principle of the human soul, or to find evi- 
dence for or against this important doctrine. Suppose it 
proved that Consciousness in thi3 temporal life does actually 
depend upon a compound material organ, which at death is 
decomposed so as to render Consciousness by that organ im- 
possible ; suppose this demonstrated beyond all question ; 
would this be admitted as decisive proof that the soul is not 
immortal? Again, suppose it demonstrated that Conscious- 
ness is dependent upon a single indestructible atom, would 
this be sufficient to satisfy us concerning the immortality of 
man ? We may conjecture what we will, and speculate 
until we have exhausted all the resources of our ingenuity, 
Avithout solving the question of our future destiny. Con- 
sciousness certainly does exist in man and every other living 
animal, and has its seat at the point where sensation termi- 
nates and volition commences ; this is all that Ave can knoAv. 
The condition of human Consciousness after death is a mat- 
ter of religious faith, but not of scientific knowledge. 

Immortality is like one of those fixed and beautiful stars, 
that cannot be perceived by the unaided natural eye ; but 
divine revelation is like a poAverful telescope, which brings 
that star clearly to our view. Be it, then, hereafter remem- 



CONSCIOUSNESS. 145 

bered, that " eternal life and immortality is brought to light 
through the gospel of Jesus Christ," and not through anato- 
my and physiology, nor any other department of scientific 
investigation. The subject is infinitely beyond the reach and 
above the comprehension of finite intellect and human rea- 
son. If any one wishes to find evidence of the immortality 
of the soul, let him go to the Bible. If he rejects this tes- 
timony, I can assure him that he will find it proved nowhere 
else. He will look to human science in vain — it can only 
lead him to the grave, and there leave him. History may 
reveal to him, that man has, in all ages, and under all cir- 
cumstances, savage and civilized, manifested 

" This pleasing hope, this fond desire, 
This longing after immortality," 

but this affords him no assurance that his longing will be sat- 
isfied. In vain, then, do we send out science in search of 
immortality for the soul ; like Noah's dove it returns again, 
unable to find a resting place, even for itself; but divine 
revelation, like the second dove which Noah sent out, comes 
to the believer with its beautiful wings illuminated by re- 
flections from the rainbow of eternal hope, bearing the olive- 
branch, the emblem and assurance of rest and peace from 
all the storms of a troubled world. 

In whatever direction we turn our eyes to the works of 
nature's God, we find evidences of design ; and whenever 
we are able to understand his designs, we are forced to ac- 
knowledge their wisdom. Let us, then, inquire what was 
the design of the Creator in bestowing Consciousness upon 
animals and man ? Why could not all their actions have 
been involuntary, as one class of them actually is ; and as 
all the actions of vegetables, in all probability, are ? Why 
it necessary — when organized beings advanced from 
the condition of vegetables one degree upwards in the scale 
— w T hy was Consciousness added ? 
7* 



146 THE ORGAN OF 

This has been answered by .saying that Consciousness was 
given that the animal might be capable of enjoying its exist- 
ence. Why, then, was not Consciousness given to vegetables 
and minerals? besides, Consciousness is often attended with 
suffering ; and, in some instances, animals seem to suffer much 
more than they enjoy. This cannot, then, be the answer. When 
the question is applied exclusively to man, it may be an- 
swered, that Consciousness was bestowed because he could 
not otherwise have been made an accountable being ; but 
this will not be given as the reason why Consciousness was 
bestowed upon the lowest animals ; nor will it enable us to 
explain all the instances of human Consciousness. I will 
venture to propose another reason. It is this : Conscious- 
ness became necessary, to enable the animal to act with refer- 
ence to external objects, which are not in contact with his or- 
gans. Involuntary and unconscious actions are always per- 
formed upon objects which are in contact with the organs. 
When the earth first emerged from its primitive condition, 
so that organized beings began to live upon it, their first 
actions were probably altogether involuntary ; and when the 
condition of the earth so far improved as to render the intro- 
duction of animals possible, those animals were but a single 
step .in advance — but one degree superior to vegetables. 
Accordingly, the lowest animals differ from vegetables only 
in this, that they act, upon objects which it requires a move- 
ment of their extremities to bring into contact. This is the 
reason why vegetables, having no Consciousness, have no 
muscular motion; nor do they need any, since'all the ob- 
jects which require their action are in contact with their 
extremities. Vegetables have propensities to breathe, to 
eat, to enjoy the light, &c. ; if Consciousness were added, 
and nothing more, we should have a vegetable conscious oj 
its wants, but unable to move to get into contact with the 
objects which it needed — unable even to perceive them. 
Now add perceptive organs and contractile muscles, and it 



CONSCIOUSNESS. 147 

would be a conscious animal y with the same wants and Con- 
sciousness of those wants; and, in addition to these, it 
would have a Consciousness of the existence, location, form, 
color, flavor and weight of the objects which it needed, 
and the means of moving its extremities and directing them 
so as to come into contact with those objects. The animal 
may still be destitute of reflective organs, and, therefore, 
unable to perceive the consequences of his actions. He 
has the very lowest animal propensities, and the very lowest 
perceptive organs, superadded to Consciousness. He is urged 
irresistibly by his propensities to aim at certain objects, with- 
out rellection, without fear, and without hesitation or fore- 
thought ; danger and death will be unseen and undreaded. He 
will be incapable of acting with reference to any objects which 
are beyond the limits of present perception, direct and im- 
mediate. He has no memory, for that can only exist with 
reflection. Memory is a power which connects the past 
and present, and depends, in some degree, upon the reflec- 
tive powers, of which we have assumed the animal to be 
destitute. As he cannot avail himself of past experience 
without memory and reflection, he is a mere conscious ma- 
chine, moved by external stimulus. Now add rellection 
and the higher propensities, and he is a different being ; he 
remembers past experience and profits by it, to avoid dan- 
ger, wounds and death. He represses his present active low- 
er propensities, because reflection stimulates cautiousness, 
and other restraining powers. He is no longer urged irre- 
sistibly to act from the immediate present external stimulus, 
but he is operated upon by the treasured stimulus of the 
past, furnished by memory and applied by reflection, con- 
cerning the future effect of present conduct. Thus we con- 
clude that Consciousness is necessary to produce contact 
with that which is within the range of perception at the 
present. Reflation and memory, and the 'high propensities, 
are necessary, to enable us to act with reference to that 



148 THE ORGAN OF CONSCIOUSNESS. 

which is absent from perception at present, but will be likely 
to be present to us hereafter. This analysis gives a very 
different character to memory from that which phrenologi- 
cal writers generally have bestowed upon it They have 
made it depend altogether upon the perceptive organs ; but 
I have made them mere vehicles, modifiers, and repeaters 
of impressions which are acted upon by other and higher 
powers of mind. 

The philosophical reader will perceive that the foregoing- 
explanation of Consciousness has an* important bearing upon 
the subject of clairvoyance, as it enables us to understand 
clearly how any current of Etherium, which is made to 
penetrate ths external coverings and isolation, the " outside 
guardians" of the brain, can easily afterwards reach the cen- 
tral seat of Consciousness and make an impression ; but this 
is all explained in detail in the article on clairvoyance, ins 
another part of this work. 



SECTION VII. 



INTER-PHRENO SENSES. 

There are three kinds of senses, viz. ; the external, the 
internal-corporeal and the inter-phreno. 

1. The external sexses are those which convey impres- 
sions from the external world to the perceptive organs, and 
give the ideas of flavor, sound, color, form, &c. 

2. The internal-corporeal senses are those which 
convey impressions from the different organs of the body to 
appropriate organs of the brain, and produce the feelings of 
hunger, thirst, suffocation, pain and various other bodily 
feelings. These senses, or nerves, are in connection with 
certain appropriate cerebral organs of the propensities which 
are dependant upon them. Thus the organ of Alimentive- 
ness is connected with the' stomach by means of a nerve, (a 
part of the Pneumogastric.) which conveys from the stomach 
impressions to Alimentiveness ; another branch of the same 
nerve conveys to the organ of Pneumativeness impressions 
from the lungs producing the feeling of suffocation. There 
is an infinite number of nerves which convey impressions to 
the organ of Sanativeness, and through its means produce 
the feeling of bodily pain in all its varieties. These senses 
have never been properly investigated and explained by any 
writer upon physiology, and the organ of Sanativeness was 
unknown until I called attention to it in 1839. 

3. The inter-phreno senses are those which convey im- 
pressions to the phreno-organs from the organ of Conscious- 



,150 INTER-PHRENO SENSES. 

Hess, and from the phreno-organs to the organ of Conscious- 
ness. They produce a communication between Conscious* 
ness and all the phreno-organs. 

No writer upon Phrenology has, prior to this time, sug- 
gested that this class of senses must exist ; indeed, they 
could not do so before an organ of Consciousness was intro- 
duced. But when we admit an organ of Consciousness, to 
which every phreno-organ sends impressions, we are forced 
also to admit the existence of fibres which connect Con- 
sciousness with the phreno-organs in such a manner as to 
allow of inter-communication . 

Let us illustrate by an example. A man is hungry, and 
eats food. Now, there are several links in the chain of 
causes and effects, which resulted in the act of eating, 
and we shall find it impossible to constitute a perfect 
chain without introducing the inter-phreno senses as con- 
necting links. 1. The stomach, beino- in a condition to 
need food, produces an impression upon the end of the 
nerve, viz. one of the internal-corporeal senses ; 2. This 
impression is conveyed (as in the electric telegraph) to the 
other extremity of the nerve, where it is connected with 
the organ of Alimentiveness ; 3. The organ of Alimentive- 
ness, receiving the impression, is*excited, and sends an im- 
pression to the central organ of Consciousness, thus pro- 
ducing a state of Consciousness which we call hunger ; 4. 
The organ of Consciousness is excited by the impression, 
and immediately from its central position radiates and trans- 
mits the impression to the phreno-organs through the inter- 
j)hreno senses; 5. Each phreno-organ, being thus excited, 
sends, in return to Consciousness, an impression peculiar to 
itself. Now, as Consciousness cannot fully recognize more 
than one impression at a time, the most powerful impression 
forces itself upon Consciousness first, and the next impression 
follows, and so on, in the order of their relative force ; this suc- 
cession of impressions constitutes what is commonly denomi- 



INTER-PHRENO SENSES, 151 

nated a train of ideas, or a train of thought and feeling. The 
impressions upon Consciousness, produced by the intellectual 
organs, are called thoughts ; and the impressions from the pro- 
pensities are called feelings. When, in the above example, the 
impression from Alimentiveness produced the state of Con- 
sciousness which we all recognize as hunger, the impres- 
sion was radiated through the inter-phreno senses, and the 
perceptive organs were thus aroused, particularly the percep- 
tive organ of Flavor. These perceptive organs being thus ex- 
cited, not by impressions from external objects, but by an im- 
pression from the central Consciousness, could only send in 
return an impression which was but an imperfect repetition 
of a former impression : this kind of impression is the foun- 
dation of memory ; 6. In the case supposed of the hungry 
man, those impressions from the perceptive organs which 
constitute memory, only serve (when transmitted through 
the inter-phreno senses and Consciousness to a propensity 
like Alimentiveness) to excite it to a still greater degree 5 
and cause it to send to Consciousness a still more powerful 
impression. At length the propensity pours upon Conscious- 
ness such a powerful current of impressions, that Conscious- 
ness can no longer be relieved by transmitting them through 
the inter-phreno senses to the phreno-organs ; another outlet 
is therefore resorted to ; 7. Under these circumstances, the 
motor nerves receive impressions or currents, through Con- 
sciousness, from the phreno-organs. The motor nerves con- 
vey impressions from the organ of Consciousness to the mus- 
cles ; 8. This produces those contractions of the muscles 
which we call voluntary motions, and in the example of the 
hungry man, those motions were directed to food ; taking it, 
putting it into the mouth, tasting it, chewing and swallowing 
it, and continuing this operation, until the stomach ceased 
to send impressions along the nerve to Alimentiveness. 

It will be perceived that, according to this view, there 
are two modes in which phreno-organs may be excited : one 



152 INTER-PHRENO SENSES. 

is, directly through the senses, and the other is through 
Consciousness. Thus, Alimentiveness was excited, first, 
by an impression from the stomach ; and secondly, by an 
impression through Consciousness from the external senses. 

It would seem, however, that all the phreno-organs are 
not capable of being excited in these two ways ; some 
phreno-organs receive no impressions, except through Con- 
sciousness ; this is the case with the reflective organs, and 
most of the higher propensities. The reflective organs do 
not receive any impressions directly from the external world, 
but the perceptives receive them and convey them to Con- 
sciousness, and from Consciousness the reflectives receive 
the impressions and respond to them. It may be a question 
whether all trains of thought originate through the external 
and the internal-corporeal senses, or whether the brain may 
not be sometimes spontaneously excited by operations of its 
own, which are only dependent upon the circulation of the 
blood. It may be, in this respect, analogous to the liver 
and other glands, which are spontaneously excited merely 
by the circulation. 

I am decidedly of this opinion ; it is certain that trains 
of thought which originate in bodily conditions, and which 
are excited through the internal-corporeal senses, are 
continued, and, by the aid of the principle of Causality 
and Comparison, lead to other thoughts which seem to have 
no immediate relation to the things that first started the 
train of thought. Thus, a slight toothache may remind one 
of a friend who once had a similar toothache, and this may 
lead us to think of his wife, and then of her sister, and so 
on until our pain is forgotten. 

This theory enables us to explain the faculty which we 
have of using all the powers of the mind in reverie, when 
neither our senses nor our muscles are active. When we 
are at rest, every muscle relaxed, our eyes shut and our 
external senses inactive, though we are perfectly awake 



INTER-PHRENO SENSES. 153 

and the mind active upon subjects which are far distant and 
events that are long past. For after one phreno-organ has 
been excited so as to impress consciousness, this may cause 
a long train of spontaneous thought through the means of 
the inter-phreno senses.* It also enables us to understand 
how it is that thinking on some absent object sometimes 
produces a movement of the muscles : thus, thinking of a 
beloved child and imagining it falling over a precipice 
causes an involuntary start as if to prevent it ; thinking of 
delicious food causes the mouth to water and move as if in 
the act of enjoyment ; and so of other corporeal enjoyments. 
The explanation is, that Consciousness first received an im- 
pression from some phreno-organ, which when transmitted 
to alimentiveness was adapted to excite it and to cause it 
to send an impression to Consciousness with a force which, 
increasing in energy, at last forced its way through the mo- 

* M. Victor Cousin, in his strictures upon Locke, (See Professor 
Henry's translation of Cousin, entitled " Cousin's Elements of 
Psychology") claims much credit for having exposed the deficiency 
of Locke's system in relation to spontaneous operations of mind inde- 
pendently of external sensation. Locke makes all ideas proceed from 
sensation; and his system has, therefore,, been somewhat reproach- 
fully denominated the sensual or sensuous system. He denies the ex- 
istence of innate ideas. 

Cousin acknowledges that, ideas are not innate, but insists that the 
mind has the inherent power of producing ideas which do not come 
through sensation. He contends that sensation occasions the mind to 
evolve ideas which sensation itself could never have produced. Cousin 
charges^that the doctrine of Locke leads to materialism and fatalism, 
and claims that his own doctrine is free from this fault ; but it would 
be easy to show that Cousin's doctrine is more directly opposed to 
revelation than that of Locke ; for Locke candidly acknowledges that 
his philosophy is imperfect, without faith in Divine Revelation ; 
whereas, Cousin vainly supposes that he avoids this necessity, by 
showing that the mind possesses powers and receives ideas which are 
independent of sensation. Cousin does not seem to suspect that there 
may be internal material organs which are capable of being spon- 
taneously active, or of being called into action " by occasion" of 
sensation. I have shown this to be {he case, and, of course, Cousin, 
Locke and myself, arc in the same dilemma, — winch forces us 
to admit, that the tendency of all human philosoj hy is to Materialism 
and Fatalism. The only way of escape is, to admit, with Locke, that 
Divine Revelation is above all philosophy. 



154 INTER-PHRENO SENSES. 

tor nerves to the muscles and produced the movement of 
the mouth. This theory enables us to explain the manner 
in which dreams are produced when the brain is partially 
asleep. It also shows, that even supposing it true that 
touching a certain part of the head excites the phreno-organ 
touched, yet through the inter-phreno senses the excitement 
may be so complicated with other parts of the brain as to 
render it impossible to draw any correct inference in regard 
to the nature of the organ touched. The relation of the 
inter-phreno senses to the organ of Consciousness must be 
understood in order to fully explain the philosophy of clair-, 
voyance and of Credencive induction, as the reader will per- 
ceive when he comes to my remarks on those subjects. 



SECTION VIII. 



MOTION. 

It may be said, with truth, that all motion, of which 
we know, is communicated, and that nothing can be said to 
originate motion but God. When a cannon-ball is set in 
motion, where did the motion originate ? Certainly not in 
the ball, nor yet in the powder. Philosophers say that the 
motion is caused by the sudden and forcible expansion of 
the powder. Granted ; but what caused the powder to 
expand in this wonderful manner ? It is said that it ex- 
pands in consequence of its sudden change from a solid 
to a gaseous form. Granted ; but what caused the sudden 
change from solid to gas ? I am told, the application of 
heat caused the change. But why ? how ? in what way ? 
on what principle does the application of heat to a grain of 
powder cause it to change from a solid to a gas, and occupy 
a million of times more space than it did before ? 

Again, it is not true that the powder occupies more space 
than it did before ; that is impossible. Every thing, every 
atom in existence, requires a certain amount of space, and 
has always, and always must, have it. It is absurd, then, 
to say that the powder, in the gaseous form, occupies more 
space than it did in its solid form. The space which it 
occupies is the same. The constituent atoms of each grain 
of the powder may be widely separated from each other, 
but they do not, on that account, occupy more space then 
when they were associated together in one aggregated lump 



156 MOTION. 

Now, what separated, in such a forcible and sudden man- 
ner, the constituent atoms of the powder ? What agency 
had heat in the operation? Why could not the separation 
take place as well without heat as with it ? If the motion 
in this case was communicated, from whence was it com- 
municated? what was its source ? 

I solve the enigma thus : the atoms of the powder were 
separated from each other by the introduction of Etherium 
or caloric between them. The Etherium was in motion 
before, and only communicated its motion to the atoms of 
powder. The fire which was applied to the powder was 
the entering wedge of Etherium, and then the surrounding 
Etherium which (although human faculties could not per- 
ceive it) was already in motion, and which previously was 
unable to separate the atoms of powder, now, since the fire 
commenced it, instantly took this direction, and thus com- 
municated its motion and force to the atoms. The motions 
of Etherium are, therefore, the ne plus ultra of human know- 
ledge. It moves and communicates its motions to other 
things, this is certain ; but what is the origin of its motions 
we cannot know. 

We see the motions of the water of the river, and we 
say that it is caused by gravitation. That gravitation is a 
tendency of things to move towards the centre of the earth ; 
that this is related to the motion of the earth upon its axis ; 
and this again is caused by the influence of the sun com- 
municated to the earth. Now, what communicates this 
power to the sun, we know not ; yet the tides, the winds, 
the waterfalls, the vegetable and animal motions, are com- 
municated by the sun, moon and other planets, to this 
world. Nothing originates motion within human know- 
ledge, and nothing within human knowledge can arrest it. 
We see it passing, but we never see it commencing nor 
ending. Coming and passing away is written upon the 
whole universe, and upon every atom it contains. The 



MOTION. 157 

animal life of one generation is communicated to the next ; 
but, where did it begin ? where will it end ? Is not this, 
too, communicated motion ? Where was it before the earth 
was habitable ? The materials of the first organized beings 
existed in the fiery elements of chaos ; and the motions also 
existed but not on earth in animated forms. It must then 
have been first communicated from inanimated forms of this 
earth, or animate forms of some other planet. Which 
was it ? 

When two inelastic balls are discharged from two guns, 
in such a manner as to meet and strike each other with 
equal forces, both balls will be deprived of force and motion. 
Now what has become of the motion which these two balls 
previously contained ? It is commonly said to be destroyed, 
but this is impossible and absurd. We have seen the balls, 
powder and matches lying quietly together, until a little 
friction of the match called into existence a tremendous 
force. It is met by another equal force, and instantly both 
forces go out of existence ! Is this so ? have the forces 
actually gone out of existence ? or are they not rather com- 
municated ? But, you inquire, to what can they be com- 
municated ? I answer, to the surrounding Etherium from 
whence they originally received it. 

If the two balls are perfectly elastic, instead of their force 
being destroyed, they will rebound from each other with a 
force nearly equal to that with which they advanced to- 
wards each other. Why is this difference ? What is there 
in the nature of elasticity which enables it to prevent force 
from being destroyed ? or what is there to prevent it from 
being communicated to the surrounding Etherium ? The 
solution of this problem depends upon an explanation of the 
causes of elasticity. What, then, are the causes of elasti- 
city ? Philosophers have newr answered this question. 
Th y have contented themselves with defining elasticity 
without attempting to explain its causes. They define 



158 MOTION. 

elasticity to be the inherent property of some bodies, when 
compressed, of returning to their original form. If I might 
be permitted to suggest an explanation of elasticity, I would 
saj r that it is caused by the affinity which* some bodies 
possess for Etherium ; and when compression forces.it out, it 
has a tendency to return with a force equal to the force of 
the elasticity which it manifests. 

Applying this theory to the two cannon-balls : when one 
is struck, its Etherium is forced out, and its tendency to 
return is equal to the force with which it re-acts and re- 
bounds ; the same being true of the other, they both re- 
bound. 

But when two inelastic balls meet, the Etherium which is 
forced out, having no affinity for the lead, and no tendency 
to return, the balls cannot rebound, but fall to the earth per- 
pendicularly in obedience to gravitation. 

The existence of a substance must be admitted, which com- 
municates motion ; a power different from any material sub- 
stance which we can see or know by our senses — a power 
independent of all human control. This is proved by the 
effect of a magnet upon iron, when partitions of the most 
solid substances intervene, — bricks, boards, glass, stone, 
water, &c, which prevent the passage of all other sub- 
stances, solid, liquid, or gaseous ; yet, through all these it 
moves with perfect ease, and without any apparent dimi- 
nution of its power. 

Light passes through glass, water, air and other trans- 
parent substances with scarcely any obstruction, and pro- 
duces all its effects almost as if no obstacle whatever had 
interposed. 

The planets influence each other and the earth ; this could 
hot be, as they are not in contact, unless there were some 
connecting medium. The inevitable conclusion therefore, 
is, that there is a connecting medium. 



MOTION. 159 

The influence of the planets upon each other is exactly 
in proportion to their size. 

This proves that the influence, whatever it is, proceeds 
from the constituent atoms of each, to the constituent atoms 
of the other; and therefore, that the power by which one 
planet influences another must be almost infinitely divisible 
and of a chemico-galvanic nature. 

The influence of planets upon each other is diminished 
by distance. This proves that a part of the force is com- 
municated to other particles on its passage — also, that there 
is a limit to the extent of the influence. 

A magnet may reproduce itself upon another piece of 
iron, by communicating its own motions to it, and after- 
wards by a blow or stroke of lightning lose its own pe- 
culiar power and die. 

A chrystal will reproduce forms like its own, and under pro- 
per circumstances a vegetable will do the same, and so will 
an animal. All motions, wherever they emanate, have a ten- 
dency to communicate and propagate themselves. When 
two bodies come in contact, one or both being in motion, 
the superior will impart and the inferior will receive motion, 
and so far as the inferior receives motion it sympathizes. 
In this sense, it may be said that that every thing in ex- 
istence sympathizes with every other, since they all de- 
rive their motions from the same source, though so modified 
by the medium that they can scarcely be said to be the 
same. In this sense every thing in existence may be said 
to sympathize with the first cause and prime mover of all 
things. • 

1. The motions of Etherium from the sun proceed from the 
constituent particles of the sun, and not from its whole 
mass. We may, reasoning from analogy with the earth, in- 
fer that the sun is composed of different substances, metals, 
gasses, &c, and each of these of different kinds and in 
different conditions. 



1G0 MOTION. 

2. The motion of Etherium is modified by the substances 
from which it is communicated. The Etherium, when it leaves 

the sun, is in different motions according to the substances 
from which it emanates, and when it reaches this earth it 
will produce different effects accordingly. 

3. The motion of Etherium produces different effects upon 
different substances with which it comes in contact on the 
earth ; and here is another source of variety. If motion 
meets with no obstructions in coming from the sun to the 
earth, it will, of course, communicate the same motions 
with which it emanated, especially if it come in contact 
with the same kind of substances on earth : in this case, 
the earth may be said to s}"mpathize with the sun. 

Sympathy means same motion, same feeling, same condition 
— and when one thing produces sympathy in another, it is 
because it is superior, and therefore capable of communicat- 
ing its own motions to the substance of an inferior, which 
cannot resist it. 

*^ In this sense, when a magnet attracts iron filings, and 
makes a temporary magnet of each separate piece of iron, 
is not this sympathy ? 

When a magnet points north and south, is it not be- 
cause the motions of the earth's magnetism are communi- 
cated to it, and produce sympathy or same-motion ? When 
a ma net whi h is pointing north and south is brought 
within the sphere of action of a galvanic battery, and 
changes its dire foil t > conform to the battery, is it not be- 
cause the motions are communicated from the battery to 
the magnet ? The same motions — the sympathy ? 

When th ; same moti ns — the same kind of motions, 
whether simultaneous or not, are performed by two bodies, 
one of two things may be inferred — either that they are 
both set in motion by a third body, or else, that one con- 
tains within itself the cause of its own motion, and that it 
communicates motion also to the other. 



MOTION. 161 

When one thing communicates motion to another, there 
must be either contact or connection. If contact, then the 
motion must be communicated first to the part in immediate 
contact, and from that to the other parts more remote 
afterwards. If connection is the means, then there must be 
a connecting medium — a connecting substance — a connect- 
ing material, which is capable of being itself set in motion 
by the superior, and of communicating motion to the inferior. 

The effects of the motion communicated will generally 
be less powerful in proportion to the resistance which it en- 
counters ; and the resistance will depend upon several cir- 
cumstances, such as distance, material, counter-motions, #c 



SECTION IX. 



TRIUNE SYSTEM OF PHRENOLOGY. 

This system of Phrenology is so peculiar, and so different 
from the system of Spurzheim, and the allusions to the 
subject in this work are so frequent, that for the benefit of 
those who may do me the honor to read this work, but 
who have not previously perused my " New System of 
Phrenology ," I will give a brief outline of it in this place. 

OUTLINE. 

Phrenology, or rather phreno-physiology, is the science 
of mind, founded upon a knowledge of the structure and 
functions of the human constitution in general, and the brain 
in particular. 

The human constitution is composed of six general sys- 
tems of organs, upon the relative development and perfec- 
tion of which the character and talents are dependent. The 
predominance of one of these systems constitutes a peculiar 
temperament. 

Size is a measure of power, all else equal. In order, 
therefore, to know the power of organs, we must first know 
their size. 

Size is a measure of power, but not of correctness of mind. This 
is an important distinction which no writer upon phrenology seems 
to have made. A man may think, or feel, or act, correctly, but not 
powerfully. The town clock may operate with a degree of power 
in proportion to its size, and may be heard throughout a whole 



PHRENOLOGY. 163 

city, thus exercising an extensive influence ; and yet a small watch 
may excel it in point of correctness. So a small man with a small 
head, may excel in correctness a large man with a large head, on 
account of a more perfect proportion and cultivation of his powers. 

A professional examination should commence with an es- 
timation of 
The Size of the whole Constitution, compared with the 

constitutions of other persons of the same age and sex 

and race. 



TEMPERAMENTS 

The nextconsid 
of 



The next- consideration is, the relative size and condition 



THE BODILY SYSTEMS. 

The Osseous System, or system of bones, constitutes 
the frame, to which all the other organs are attached, 
and combined with an uncommon development of 

The Muscular System, tends to produce strength of 
body, and slow motions of mind and body. 

2. The Nervous System, (including the brain,) tends to 

produce activity and sensitiveness, without reference 
to strength, thus antagonizing the muscular system. 
The three following systems tend to modify the opera- 
tions of the three preceding, by causing vigor, endurance, 
or indolence. 

3. The Digestive System, tends to produce moderation, 

indolence and sedentary habits. 

4. The Arterial System, including the lungs, tends to 

produce vigor, industry and a love of varied exercise 
of mind and body. 

5. The Venous System, being the magazine of surplus 

blood, tends to produce long continued action of mind 
and body, without reference to energy or vigor. 
In accordance with these principles I usually reckon five 
Temperaments, viz. : the Muscular, the Nervous, the Di- 
gestive, the Arterial and the Venous. 




PHRENOLOGICAL LUST. 



The location office three classes is indicated in the above engraving 
by three kinds of nnmeral figures. On the side of the head, from I 
to XII, are the Ipseah ; at the back and top, from 1st to 12th, are 
the Socials ; and in front, from 1 to 15, are the Intellectuals. 



PHRENOLOGY. 165 



IPSEALS. 

PROPENSITIES WHICH WERE DESIGNED FOR THE BENEFIT 
OF SELF. 



CORPOREAL RANGE. 

I. Pneumativeness — the propensity to breathe. When 
not gratified it produces the feeling of suffocation. Its 
deficiency tends to produce sedentary habits. Its abuse — 
so much exercise in the open air as to disqualify for 
study and reflection. 

II. Alimentiveness — propensity to eat — produces the feel- 
ing of hunger or thirst. Its abuse — gluttony and drunk- 
enness. Its deficiency produces neglect of nourishment. 

III. Sanativeness — propensity to preserve soundness of 
body. Produces the feeling of bodily pain. Abuse — 
unnecessary attention to trifling ails. Deficiency — neglect 
of personal comforts and health. 

Just under Combativeness and behind Sanativeness, in the cor- 
poreal range, there is, in my opinion, an organ of Excretiveness ; 
and it is generally large upon those who seem to delight in vulgar 
and filthy language, and small on those who are extremely fastidi- 
ous. I suspect that the front part of Secrctiveness, near where it 
is connected with Alimentiveness, is an organ of Luminativeness, 
or the love of light ; and in this region there are also, probably, 
several other organs relating to the corporeal wants ; such as cold, 
warmth, &c, but nothing definite has been as yet ascertained con- 
cerning them. It is probable that all the corporeal propensities are 
compound. 

CARNIVOROUS RANGE. 

IV. Destructiveness — propensity to destroy. It produces 
the feeling of anger or wrath. Abuse — revenge, cruelty, 
severity, murder. Deficiency — too much gentleness. 



166 PHRENOLOGY 



Oombativeness — the propensity to contend, oppose, 
i;ht, dispute. Feeling — resentment, hostility. Abuse — 



V. Com b ATr 

improper contentions and disputes. Deficiency — indis- 
position to contend, even for justice 



HERBIVOROUS RANGE. 

VI. Secretiveness — to conceal, to secrete, to act indi- 
rectly. Feeling — suspicion.* Abuse — deceit, falsehood. 
Deficiency — too much openness and directness. 

VII. Cautiousness — propensity to avoid coming danger. 
Feeling — fear, apprehension. Abuse — cowardice, panic, 
fright. Deficiency — carelessness and recklessness. The 
manifestations of Cautiousness are often confounded with 
those of Sanativeness. 

RODENTIA RANGE 

VIII. Constructiveness — to construct, build, manufacture. 
Feeling — love of the mechanical. Abuse — unnecessary 
and foolish structures. Deficiency — inattention to con- 
struction and to structural philosophy. 

IX. Acquisitiveness propensity to acquire property. 

Feeling — love of wealth. Abuse — avarice, penurious- 
ness, theft. Deficiency — profuseness, neglect of property. 

HUMAN RANGE. 

I think that the " organ of Tune " should be called Tunefulness ; 
that it is an Ipseal propensity of the Human range, and that it is 
not an intellectual faculty, as it has hitherto been supposed to be. 
If this is admitted, we can understand why it is that so many are 
fond of music who have very little ability to make it, or even to 
judge concerning its merits ; for a propensity does not directly give 
ability, but only a disposition 

X. Playfulness, or Mirthfulness, or Wit — to act in sport. 



* Our language is deficient in terms adequate to express some of 
the states of Consciousness produced by propensities. 



PHRENOLOGY. 167 

Feeling — mirth, fun. Abuse — sport on improper occa- 
sions. Deficiency — neglect of useful sport. 

XI. Perfectiveness, or Ideality — to improve and perfect. 
Feeling — love of the beautiful. Abuse — ornament to the 
neglect of the useful. Deficiency — neglect of the fine 
arts and of improvement. 

XII. Hopefulness, or Hope — to act as if future enjoyment 
is certain. Feeling — contentment, cheerfulness, gaiety, 
hope. Abuse — unreasonable anticipations of enjoyment. 
Deficiency — despondency and melancholy. This is often 
confounded with exuberant animation which depends 
upon health. 



SOCIALS. 

PROPENSITIES WHICH WERE DESIGNED TO PRODUCE AND 
BENEFIT SOCIETY. 

ESTABLISHING GROUP. 

1st. Amativeness — to propagate the species. Feeling — 
amorousness. Abuse — licentious indulgence. Deficiency — 
inattention to the opposite sex, want of gallantry. 

2d. Parentiveness, or Fkiloprogenitiveness — to take care 
of the young. Feeling — parental love. Abuse — improper 
indulgence of children. Deficiency — neglect of the young. 

3d. Inhaeitiveness, or Concent rativeness — to fix on some 
spot for a permanent residence. Feeling — amor patriae, 
or love of country, homesickness. Abuse — prejudice 
against other countries, too limited views of patriotism. 
Deficiency — roving. 

4th. Adhesiveness — To form connections and attachments 
to parents and friends. Feeling — friendship. Abuse — 
improper connections. Deficiency — neglect of friends. 

GOVERNING GROUP. 
5th. Imperativeness, or Self-Esteem — to command, to take 
the lead in society, to assume superiority. Feeling — 



168 PHRENOLOGY. 

dignity, pride, self-esteem. Abuse — superciliousness, 
haughtiness, arrogance. Deficiency — want of dignity, 
independence. 

6th. Approbativeness — to act in a popular and agreeable 
manner, to gain the esteem and applause of others. Feel- 
ing — love of praise, admiration, distinction. Abuse — 
foppishness, coquetry, vanity, improper attempts to ac- 
quire notoriety. Deficiency — indifference to the opinions 
of others. 

7th. Firmness — to maintain the position or authority which 
we have assumed in relation to others. Feeling — deter- 
mination. Abuse — obstinacy, infatuation. Deficiency — • 
too much influenced by others. This is often confounded 
with combativeness. 

8th. Conscientiousness — to act justly. Feeling — con- 
scious integrity, moral sense, remorse. Abuse — improper 
self-condemnation, useless remorse. Deficiency — dis- 
honesty. 

CONFORMING GROUP. 

All of the conforming Socials should be carefully studied, in 
order to come to a right understanding of the Conforming, Sub- 
missive, Imitative, Sympathizing and Credencive dispositions gene- 
rally exhibited by inducted subjects. 

9th. Submissiveness, or Reverence^ or Veneration — to sub- 
mit, to condescend, to yield to superior power, wisdom, 
or merit. Feeling — reverence, veneration, adoration. 
Abuse — servility, slavishness, false worship. Deficiency 
— a want of proper respect and obedience. 

10th. Kindness, or Benevolence — to gratify the feelings of 
others. Feeling — pity, compassion. Abuse — indiscrimi- 
nate and improper kindness. Deficiency — indifference to 
the feelings of others. 

11th. Imitativeness, or Imitation — to imitate the examples, 
precepts and operations of others whom we respect. 



PHRENOLOGY. 169 

Feeling — sympathy. Abuse — irreverent mimicry, or ser- 
vile copying. Deficiency — indifference to the manners of 
others. 
12th. Credenciveness, or Marvelousness, or Wonder. — 
to act upon the testimony of others, and especially those 
whom we respect. Feeling — curiosity, wonder, marvel- 
ousness. Abuse — superstition, credulity. Deficiency — 
skepticism, and a want of what is sometimes called imagi- 
nation. 



INTELLECTUALS. 



PERCEPTIVES. 

1 . Individuality — or Perception of individual things, with- 
out reference to their relations. Memory of individual 
facts. 

1 am altogether dissatisfied with the explanations usually given 
of Individuality. I cannot help thinking that it is a mere concen- 
tration of the radicals of the lowest intellectual organs, and that it 
is thus auxiliary to, and intimately connected with, the organ of 
Consciousness. The explanations of this organ by phrenologians 
seem to me perfectly illogical and unfounded. Although I have 
followed, in some degree, the example of Spurzheim in the defini- 
tion which I have given it in my work on phrenology, and also in this 
outline, yet 1 am convinced that we have all been in the wrong, 
and that the only thing certain concerning it is, that when large 
it indicates a tendency or ability to take notice of things without re- 
ference to their relations. 

2. Flavor — Perception of odors and savors. Memory of 
odors and savors. Talent for distinguishing the flavor of 
food, drink, perfumes and chemical substances. 

3. Sound, or Language — Perception of sounds. Memory 
of words. Talent for learning languages. 

8* 



170 PHRENOLOGY. 

I have perfectly satisfied my own mind, that what has hitherto 
been called the organ of Language, is merely a perception and 
memory of sounds ; and that it is related to language just as far as 
sounds are related to language, and no farther. (See on this sub- 
ject Locke's Essay on the Understanding.) 

4. Form — Perception of the forms of bodies. Memory of 
forms and faces. Talent for drawing forms, &c. 

I am in much doubt, but on the whole, am inclined to think that 
Form and Size shouldjlnot be considered as separate powers of mind. 

5. Size, or Extension — Perception of distance, space, size. 
Memory of size and distance. Talent for perspective 
drawing, landscapes, &c. 

6. Weight — Perception of equilibrium, gravitation, force, 
momentum, resistance. Memory of weigfit, &c. Talent 
for balancing, and applying force in a skillful and delicate 
manner. 

7. Color — Perception of hues, tints and shades of color. 
Memory of color. Talent for painting, dyeing, &c. 

S. Order — Perception of arrangement. Memory of arrange- 
ment. Talent for arranging and keeping things in order. 

9. Number — Perception of plurality, or number. Memory 
of numbers. Talent for arithmetical calculation. Com- 
bined with the Renectives, it bestows the talent for math- 
ematics. 

10- Direction, or Locality — Perception of the direction of 
objects. Memory of the points of the compass. Talent 
for navigation. 

This is, by all other writers upon phrenology, called the organ 
of Locality, but I call it the organ of Direction, as this seems to me 
more simple and more in harmony with truth. (See my larger 
work on Phrenology.) 

11. Eventuality, or Action — Perception of the action of 
things. Memory of transactions, anecdotes and histories. 
Talent for History. 



PHRENOLOGY. 171 

12. Time — Perception of the duration of time. Memory of 
intervals and (combined with Number) memory of dates. 
Talent for chronology, and keeping time in music, danc- 
ing, marching, &c. 

13. Tune or Tunefulness — Perception of the pitch of sound. 
Memory of tune, the foundation of the Talent for Music. 

1 am certain that tune should not be considered an intellectual 
faculty. Some of the properties which have been hitherto attri- 
buted to it, belong to the organ of Sound or Language ; other proper- 
ties belong to order, which gives a perception of arrangement or 
succession of sounds, as it does of other things ; other properties, 
to Comparison and Causality, which give a perception of harmony, 
relation, connection, mutual dependence, &c. ; while this organ 
gives the mere impulsive propensity to direct or use the intellectual 
faculties in a tuneful manner, just as Constructiveness impels them 
to attend to mechanical ideas. All practical phrenologians have 
been forced to admit that they cannot arrive at a correct judgment 
concerning the musical talents of any person, by examining their 
developments. They have long since given up all pretence of tell- 
ing a person's musical character by his head ; at the same time, they 
are all sure that this part of the head is in some way related to 
music. I hope that I have discovered the difficulty, and removed 
it. In this outline, I have retained the arrangement and definitions 
of the organs, as they are in my work on phrenology, choosing to 
explain myself in these notes, for the present, and give my views 
more at large in a new edition of my larger work on phrenology, 
which will hereafter be published. 

REFLECTIVES.* 

14. Comparison, or Classification — Perception of the resem- 
blances, differences and classes of things. Memory of 
resemblances, and classes. Talent for classification, for 
figurative language, and for analogical reasoning. 



* It is not strictly logical to call these reflective organs, it would 
have been better to call them combining organs or combining percep- 
tives, but it is perhaps too late no'.v to correct the error. 



1?^ PHRENOLOGY. 

15. Causality, or Connection — Perception of dependence, 
connection, cause and effect. Memory of general conclu- 
sions and results. Talent for logical reasoning, and 
original invention. 



NUMBERS. 

Most phrenologians use numerical figures to express the 
size of the organs, and, if correctly done, it is undoubtedly 
the best way. Some adopt 91 asa medium number, and, 
then, of course, 20 stands for the highest, and 1 for the 
lowest degree of development. I prefer to adopt 5 as a 
medium number, and, therefore, 9 stands for the highest, 
and 1 for the lowest degree of development. If a head 
were perfectly formed, and all the organs equally developed, 
every organ should be numbered 5 ; and, as there are 39 
organs, the sum of all their numbers would be 5 times 39 , 
or 195. We cannot number any more above medium than 
we do below, for no organ can be large without being so at 
the expense of others. If an organ is marked 6, some other 
must be marked 4, and whatever be the form or size of 
the head, the sum of all the numbers must be 195, or the 
examination is incorrect. It is like dividing $195 among 
39 men ; it would be $5 each ; and if we give more than 
$5 to one man, some one or more of the others must re- 
ceive less. 

Simple and undeniable as this rule is, it has hitherto been 
either unknown or totally disregarded by all practical phre- 
nologians. It is common to see a chart in which nearly all 
the organs are marked higher than the medium number ; a 
practice which, however complimentary it may seem to the 



PHRENOLOGY. 173 

subject, is perfectly absurd, and renders the chart worse 
than useless. 

In Capen's life of Spurzheim, we are presented with a 
chart of his head, taken by Mr. George Combe and Mr. 
Walter Todd, in which 20 was adopted as a maximum, and 
the number of organs examined was 35. The sum of all 
the numbers, therefore, could have been only 3322, if they 
had proceeded correctly ; but they have made it amount to 
581. All American practitioners, following the example of 
Mr. Combe, have been led into the same error into which 
he has fallen. 

It should be remembered that the numbers express only 
the relative size of the organs in the same individual, with- 
out reference to other persons. Two men may have their 
organs numbered precisely alike, and yet one head may be 
a third larger than the other ; one may be a man of extra- 
ordinary talent and energy, while the other is far below 
mediocrity, on account of the small size of his head. 

In order to make a just comparison of one individual with 
others, we must ascertain the size of the whole constitution, 
compared with others of the same age, sex and race. All 
else equal, the largest constitution will manifest the most 
force, both of body and mind. 

The brain is the organ of the mind, and, all else equal, 
the largest brain will manifest the most power. We, there- 
fore, ascertain the size of the brain, compared with the rest 
of the body, for if the whole constitution is above the 
medium size, and then the head is disproportionately large, 
nothing more is wanting to constitute true natural greatness 
but a favorable proportion of the parts. 

The above remarks concerning numbers were written and pub- 
lished in 1840, and yet the charts made by all the " practical phren- 
ologists" in this country, are still made in the old way. None of 
them pretend to justify it ; but such is their unfortunate selfishness, 
that they prefer to commit the most palpable outrages upon com- 



174 PHRENOLOGY. 

mon sense and mathematics, rather than to admit that they have 
heen so long in error, and that one whose success excites their hos- 
tility, has induced them to reform for the credit of the science and 
the good of their patrons. 

Perhaps the reason that none haye adopted this method is, that 
it is more difficult, and requires more accurate examination. It 
does not allow of such egregious flattery and deception as their 
method, since they cannot mark one organ high without doing so 
at the expense of some other. 

If any one, who has a chart made by one of them, will take the 
trouble to examine it, he will find that they have assumed a certain 
number for average or mean, and then, with flattering falsehood, 
have proceeded to mark nearly all (in some cases all) the organs 
above the average. 

They all agree that, in estimating the size of any organ of the 
brain, they compare it with the other organs of the same brain ; 
this being so, they cannot possibly justify themselves ; they are 
fairly chargeable either with dishonesty, or with unpardonable 
stupidity. 



GENERAL SUMMARY OF THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE TRIUNE 
SYSTEM OF PHRENOLOGY. 

1. The Nervous System maybe divided into the ganglio- 
nic and the Phrenic. The principal distinction in the 
modus operandi of the two systems, depends upon the fact 
that the Phrenic system (or in other words the voluntary 
system) has a central organ of Consciousness, while the 
ganglionic system has not. Phreno-organs are merely 
ganglions connected with Consciousness, and ganglions are 
merely propensities to produce muscular action. Volun- 
tary and involuntary actions are both produced by similar 
apparatuses, except that one has a common centre, through 
which each organ of that system is compelled to operate ; 
while the organs of the other system (the involuntary or 



PHRENOLOGY. 175 

ganglionic), are not under the necessity of preserving unity 
of action, nor of producing Consciousness. 

2. Ordinary sleep is caused by the temporary predomi- 
nance of the o-ano-lionic system over the phrenic. 

3. The organ of Consciousness is located in the medulla 
oblongata, where it receives impressions from Phreno- 
organs, and transmits or radiates the impressions which 
it receives to other Phreno-organs, or else to the motor 
nerves, or to both, according to circumstances. When it 
transmits impressions to phreno-organs, it receives other im- 
pressions in return, and thus trains of thought are produced. 
But when it transmits impressions to the motor nerves, 
voluntary muscular motion is produced, such as tends to 
gratify those phreno-organs in which the movements origi- 
nated. 

4. Each Phreno-organ has fibres, (inter-phreno senses,) 
which convey or conduct impressions from Consciousness, 
as well as fibres which conduct impressions to Conscious- 
ness. 

5. Consciousness and the lowest intellectual organs were 
superadded to the ganglionic system, by the Creator, to 
enable animals (when in the scale of created beings they 
were elevated above mere vegetables) to act with reference 
to objects which are not in contact with their organs, 
though the objects desired may be within reach, so as to be 
obtained by muscular movements. 

6. Reflection and memory depend upon the higher in- 
tellectual organs, such as the lowest animals do not possess. 
These higher organs of intellect were superadded to the 
lower, and bestowed upon the higher animals and man, to 
enable them to act reasonably, with reference to the past 
and future — the distant and absent — and all other things 



176 PHRENOLOGY. 

which concern us, but which are so far separated from us by 
space and time as to be beyond the range of our present 
perceptions. 

7. Memory depends upon the reflective organs, in an im- 
portant degree, because, they combine, connect, class and 
associate ideas and feelings ; but the materials remembered 
are furnished, to Consciousness and reflection, by the other 
organs of the brain. 

8. Ideas, thoughts, emotions, or feelings, are only so 
many states or conditions of Consciousness, which are de- 
signed to prepare and qualify the conscious being to act 
with propriety. 

9. When one phreno-organ, from any cause, sends to Con- 
sciousness a more powerful current of Etherium than any 
other, it produces an effect which is in accordance with the 
established laws of mechanics as applied to other forces ; 
that is, it causes every opposing current to conform or be 
neutralized. 

10. The phreno-organs may be divided into Intellectuals, 
or those that direct actions ; and Propensities that originate 
actions. The Propensities may be divided into Ipseal, or 
those that were designed for the benefit of self ; and Social, 
or those that were designed for thejbenefit of others. The 
brain is thus constituted of three classes of organs ; viz., 
Ipseal, Social and Intellectual. By the connecting and 
concentrating nature of the organ of Consciousness, these 
three classes of organs act in harmony and preserve their 
unity; I therefore call this, the Triune system, or TJiree-one 
system, to distinguish it from the system of Spurzheim, 
which all other phrenologians follow. 

11. Organs that perform analogous functions have con- 
tiguous locations ; and this fact is the basis of their classifi- 



PHRENOLOGY. 177 

cation. Organs that are lowest in the brain, and nearest 
the median line of the head, are lowest in the scale, and 
manifested by the least perfect animals ; this fact is the 
basis of the arrangement of the organs that belong to the 
same class. Among the Ipseals, those nearest the front 
mesial line, and nearest the base of the brain, are lowest in 
the scale. 

The Ipseal organs are grouped together on the side of the 
head. The Socials are extended in a connected chain from 
the lowest back of the head to the upper front. The Intel- 
lectuals are all grouped in the forehead. [See the En- 
graving.] 

12. The order in which the organs are successively de- 
veloped and superadded to each other, when considered in 
connection with the Triune classification, is, in my opinion, 
superior in scientific beauty to anything in the whole range 
of human knowledge. 

It is a curious and interesting fact, that the superadditions 
of organs in the human brain harmonize with the superaddi- 
tions of the geological strata, and the gradually increasing 
intelligence and complexity of animals from the lower to 
the higher strata. It is also a curious fact that the develop- 
ment of the brain during its embryotic growth, is by a 
series of similar superadditions. In the first stages of its 
growth, it resembles that of the lower animals. In the new 
born infant, the head resembles that of an ape, and it con- 
tinues to expand in the higher regions until the individual 
attains maturity. 

13. If we trace the order in which the Intellectual organs 
are developed, we find, at the base, in the mesial line, the 
organs possessed by the very lowest animals. The farther 
we proceed from this point, either laterally or upwards, the 
higher is the nature of the organ, and the higher the destiny 



178 PHRENOLOGY. 

of the animal possessing it in an uncommon degree. Caus- 
ality being the most lateral organ of the highest range, is, 
according to this rule, the highest in its nature ; and it is 
possessed, in a great degree, only by man. [See the En- 



14. In the development of Ipseals the same order may 
be traced. It will be perceived more readily if we make a 
drawing of the Ipseal class of each hemisphere, and place 
the two hemispheres together in such a way, that the most 
frontal organs of each side shall come in contact, just as the 
intellectuals do in the medium line : let Pneumativeness of 
the right side be brought forward until it meets Pneumative- 
ness of the left side ; and let Playfulness of the right side 
meet in contact with Playfulness of the left. We shall now 
perceive that the same order is exhibited in the arrangement 
of the. Ipseals as in the other classes which border upon the 
medium line ; that is, the organs nearest to the frontal line, 
and also nearest to the base, are lowest in the scale. Ac- 
cording to this rule, Pneumativeness is the lowest, and Hope- 
fulness the highest organ of this class. The other organs 
hold a rank which is indicated by the figures on the en- 
graving of the head. 

15. We find the organ of the lowest social propensity at 
the lowest part of the back of the head ; the second im- 
mediately above it ; the third above the second ; and the 
fourth developed laterally from the second and third, like 
the branch of a tree from the main trunk ; the fifth is above 
the third, and is a continuation of the main trunk; the 
sixth is a branch of the fifth ; the seventh is a continuation 
of the main trunk, and the eighth a branch ; the ninth is a 
continuation, and the tenth a completion of the main trunk ; 
the eleventh and twelfth are the highest branches; the 
twelfth is manifested clearly by man only. The whole 



PHRENOLOGY. 179 

classification and arrangement of the three classes very much 
resembles three trees planted at different points, with their 
branches regularly shooting forth, and their topmost boughs 
intertwined harmoniously — they are closely connected, but 
should not be confounded together. 

16. The lowest range of Ipseals and the two lowest 
Socials, have this peculiarity, that they receive stimuli 
from the body directly through the internal-corporeal senses, 
while all the other and higher propensities receive all their 
stimuli indirectly through Consciousness. 

The perceptives receive stimuli directly through the ex- 
ternal senses, but the rerlectives receive all their stimuli 
indirectly through Consciousness. 

17. The Ipseal propensities are subdivided into five 
ranges, which correspond with different classes of ani- 
mals ; this subdivision is not very important, nor very ex- 
act, but it is convenient and useful ; and, to a naturalist, 
must be highly interesting. 

18. The Socials are subdivided into the organs that 
establish society — the organs that govern society — and the 
organs that conform to society. This subdivision is ex- 
tremely useful and important in its bearing upon the ex- 
periments and phenomena of Etheropathy. 

19. It will be observed that the explanation which I 
have given of the Temperaments, is very different from that 
usually given, especially that which ascribes to the venous 
system the power of giving continuity of action. My doc- 
trine is, that the predominance in size of the bones and 
muscles produces the muscular temperament — this is the 
temperament of strength and slowness. The predominance 
of the brain and nerves produces the nervous temperament 
— the temperament of activity and sensitiveness. The pre- 



180 PHRENOLOGY. 

dominance of the digestive system produces the digestive 
or indolent temperament. The predominance of the arterial 
system and lungs produces the arterial or sanguine tempera- 
ment. The predominance of the venous system produces 
the venous or bilious temperament. I believe that I am the 
first to suggest this venous temperament, and I am happy 
to know that it has been approved by some of the most dis- 
tinguished Physiologists. 



SECTION X. 



ETHEROPATHY. 

The spontaneous phenomena and the experiments in 
Etheropathy, including all those performed by Mr. Sunder- 
land and Drs. Elliotson, Braid, Buchanan, Caldwell and 
others, may all be explained by the application of the fol- 
lowing principles : 

1. Imperfect isolation of the subject, exposing him to abnor- 
mal induction, both spontaneous and artificial. 

2. Will of operator producing induction. 

3. Credencive induction, or self-induction. 

4. Sympathy produced by induction. 

5. Clairvoyance, or un-isolated and un-restricted percep- 
tion produced by induction. 

6. Deranged function produced by abnormal induction ; this 
principle, combined with the principles above mentioned 
of will, sympathy, credence and clairvoyance, account 
for all the phenomena, and explain all the experi- 
ments. 

1. Imperfect isolation, exposing the subject to induction. 
The terms isolation and induction are borrowed from the 
science of Electricity. The word isolation or insulation is 
used in this work to signify the peculiar structure or con- 
dition of the organs of man and animals, which is designed 
to protect them from the influence of surrounding and exter- 
nal currents of Etherium. This principle of isolation is 
absolutely necessary to protect the organs from the undue 



182 ETHEROPATHY. 

influence of abnormal currents by which we are continually 
surrounded. — (See Cuvie^s Lectures on Physiology.) The 
numberless nerves are continually conveying impressions in 
all directions throughout the whole constitution. Some- 
times we find different functions performed by nerves which 
are so near to each other that no anatomical skill can point 
out the precise line of separation, and yet it can be proved 
by the most decisive experiments that one of the nerves 
conveys a motion of Etherium in one direction, while another 
conveys motion in the opposite direction, and notwithstand- 
ing their contiguity, there is no interference. 

Just as two contiguous rail-road tracks admit of the pas- 
sage of cars in opposite directions without jostling or colli- 
sion, so do these nerves convey the motions of Etherium in 
opposite directions. 

In common electric experiments, the wires can be made 
to convey electricity in opposite directions, even though the 
wires are in contact, provided they are coated with glass, 
resin, varnish, or shellac ; but if the isolating varnish is re- 
moved, the currents interfere with each other, and the 
weaker currents become neutralized or modified by the in- 
duction of the more powerful currents. 

Induction is a term which signifies the communication of 
motion from one body to another, or from one organ to anoth- 
er; thus, when a current of electricity is communicated from 
a body which possesses it, to one which does not, the motion 
or current in the latter is said to be induced or inducted, and 
the process is called induction. 

If a large magnet or a galvanic battery is brought near a 
small mariner's compass, the compass needle is immediately 
affected by induction ; that is, the current of electricity is 
communicated from the large magnet to the needle. 

Thus we have seen that the object of isolation is to pre- 
vent induction ; and what we do in an imperfect manner by 
human skill in a galvanic apparatus, nature does with won- 
derful perfection in organized bodies. 



ETHEROPATHY. 183 

The Susceptibility of the subject depends upon two 
conditions ; first, the weakness of the currents of Etherium 
evolved in the capillaries ; second, the imperfection or weak- 
ness of the isolation. 

Some organs are susceptible, while others are not ; — the 
reason is that some organs are more perfectly isolated, or 
else they evolve more powerful currents of Etherium. 
Some organs are susceptible to one operator but not to an- 
other. There seems to be a natural tendency of the organs 
of the operator to induct the corresponding organs of the 
subject : Combativeness in operator to induce its own cur- 
rent in Combativeness of the subject ; Sanativeness of opera- 
tor to induct Sanativeness of the subject, and so of all the 
other organs both of mind and body ; this kind of induction is 
denominated sympathy or same condition. 

If, therefore, Sanativeness is large in the subject, and small 
in the operator, it would be difficult for that operator to in- 
duct that organ, though he might succeed in inducting many 
others in the same subject ; another operator may, if his 
Sanativeness be large, succeed in affecting the Sanativeness 
of this same subject. 

The subject may be inducted by his own organs ; that is, 
one organ may induct all the others, and produce paralysis 
or monomania. Again, the subject may be inducted by ex- 
ternal inanimate objects, as in the cases of spontaneous som- 
nambulism, such as that of Jane C. Rider. 

Signs of Susceptibility. — I find the most susceptible 
subjects among those whose flesh is pliable and flaccid, and 
indicative of a want of vigor in the capillary circulation. 
But I have also found a great number, the appearance of 
whose flesh, and indeed every appearance, was highly in- 
dicative of susceptibility ; yet upon trial they were found 
perfectly impervious : the reason is, that the isolation was 
perfect, though the Etherean current was weak. I have 



184 ETHEROPATHY* 

long since given up all pretensions to skill in determining by 
the appearance of a person, whether or not he is suscepti- 
ble, since I am satisfied that it depends upon two or more 
causes, one of which is concealed from the senses. 

The susceptibility of the subject is greatly increased by 
his passiveness, and the consent and submission of his 
mind, while the powers of the operator are in their most 
active condition. It is also increased by the absence of all 
exciting stimulii, such as noise, or anxiety, or hunger, or 
pain. All these facts go to establish the opinion that sus- 
ceptibility is, in some degree, related to the weakness with 
which the currents are evolved from the organs of the 
subject. 

2. Will of operator producing induction. By the term 
will, I mean the effort which we are conscious of making 
to accomplish an end ; for instance, when I determine to 
raise my arm, I immediately make an effort, which is called 
willing, and instantly my arm rises. In this case, the arm 
was inducted by the brain : that is, a motion of Etherium 
from the brain was communicated to my arm. Now, when 
a person sits before me with his eyes closed, and I will his 
arm to rise, I make the same effort that I did when I raised 
my own arm ; and if his arm actually rises at my will, I 
conceive that the effect was produced in the same way in 
both cases : that is, by the induction of a current of Ethe- 
rium from my brain to the nerves connected with the arm, 
causing the arm to perform its function. 

If I will the arm to feel sore, as if burnt, and the subject 
instantly moves his arm, and complains of its being hurt, the 
principle is the same ; I induct the requisite nerves of sen- 
sation by my will, so that a current of Etherium passes to 
Sanativeness from the arm, and produces a painful state of 
Consciousness. Why cannot I cause a sensation in the sub- 
ject as well 'as a motion ? in both cases, there is merely a 
current of Etherium from the brain of the operator ; but, in 



ETHEROPATHY. 185 

one case the current moves down to the arm of the subject, 
in the other, it moves up to the brain ; of course, in one 
case it produces motion, in the other sensation. 

There has been much discussion among metaphysicians, 
concerning Identity and Consciousness. The question is 
often asked, What phreno-organ is it that says " IV and 
what is it that says U I am?" and what says " I will ?" 
What is will ? 

I answer these questions simply and plainly, thus : — The 
notions of I" and I am are the result of the operation of the 
reflective organs. Many animals never have such an idea. 
/ am and I was and / shall be are notions which are related 
inseparably to each other, and to the comparing and con- 
necting power. Many beings are conscious that never have 
reason enough to raise the idea of / am. An infant is con- 
scious, but does not think of lain or I was, and it is not until 
they learn to compare themselves, with other beings, that 
they distinguish I from other beings in their reasoning. 
Doubtless the first efforts of the infant mind in reasoning, 
teaches them the notion of I and I am, and a little more of 
the same kind of reasoning, teaches them the notion of / 
icas and I shall be. 

Identity is an idea that I am the same person that I was, 
and this is certainly a notion which can only arise upon 
Comparison and connection, or Causality. 

I will is an expression which is used in two senses, one 
signifies I desire, and the other I am determined. 

i" desire is a notion excited in Consciousness by any active 
phreno-organ when stimulated by some object. 

I am determined is a notion produced in Consciousness, 
principally by Combativeness, Firmness, Imperativeness and 
Hopefulness, under circumstances of opposition and difficulty. 

The idea of I can is generally produced by Hope and re- 
flection. The idea of I myself am superior from Imperative- 
ness and reflection. The idea of I love from Adhesiveness, 
9 



186 ETHEROPATHY. 

Comparison and Causality. The idea of I hate from De- 
structiveness and reflection. In short, it is reflection that 
says i, and propensity says will. In operating, when we 
will that the subject shall be in a certain state, that which 
wills is Imperativeness, Firmness and Hopefulness, and 
any other propensities may add their influence, if they are 
interested in the result. When one propensity desires one 
thing, and another the contrary, the will is the predominant 
propensity. 

3. CREDENCIVE INDUCTION. 

While engaged in performing various experiments, I 
made a very important discovery which I have never 
before communicated to the public in writing, though I 
have frequently mentioned it privately to my friends, and 
publicly in my lectures. It is this — that when a subject 
is but slightly affected, and when any of the operators in 
mesmerism, or neurology, or pathetism, would send him 
away as unprofitable — merely by the application of a very 
simple stimulus which every one has always at hand, the 
subject may be brought perfectly under your control. 
Do you ask me what this simple and powerful stimulus is ? 
I answer, that it is an assertion. 

Assert to the subject, in a decided tone, for instance, " You 
cannot open your eyes," and if his eyes were shut when you 
made the assertion, he canno't open them afterwards until 
you again say, " Now you can open them," or something to 
that effect: Again ; say to the subject, u Put your hands to- 
gether and you cannot separate them" If now he puts his 
hands together, he will try in vain to separate them until you 
reverse your assertion. Say " the floor is hot," and instant- 
ly to him it seems hot. Assert that " yonder is a lion, "and 
he immediately believes it and sees it ; or tell him that he 
is himself a lion, and he instantly assumes the character, 
and begins to roar and show his teeth and claws. 



CREDENCIVE INDUCTION. 187 

It has long been known that very susceptible subjects may- 
be deluded and -willed into almost any state of mind ; but 
it has not before been known that it requires less suscepti- 
bility to perform these experiments than any other. It has 
not been known that it is on this principle that most of the 
successful experiments in neurology, pathetism and hyp- 
notism are performed. The gentlemen who have conducted 
these experiments were evidently ignorant of the real agent 
that produced the phenomena. 

It is a fact, capable of being easily demonstrated, that 
nearly all of the subjects of Dr. Buchanan, or any other 
operator, can be made to believe anything, or to assume 
any character, or to conform to the wishes, expressed or 
implied, of the operator ; and this can be done when they 
are affected in the very least degree, while they are wide 
awake, and appear to know what they are about. They 
cannot resist an assertion. Put your words in the form of 
an inquiry, and they are powerless — for instance, ask the 
subject, " Can you raise your hand}" and he will raise it ; 
but assert — " you cannot raise your hand," and he cannot do 
it. The same is true of any other assertion, as, "you can- 
not speak," " you cannot speak without lisping," " you 
cannot speak without stuttering," " you cannot stop," 
"you cannot rise," " you finger is wounded and bleeding," 
" your hair is wool," " your hands are iron," or " fish" or 
" fire," " you are a child" or " an old man." Any of these 
assertions produce an instantaneous effect. 

Let the subject suppose that you are going to excite the 
organs of his brain — let him believe that you expect when 
you touch a certain part of his head, that he will be affected 
in a particular way, and he will generally use all his inge- 
nuity to learn your wishes, and make his utmost endeavors 
to oblige you and accomplish your expectations. This is 
a fact which is undeniable, though it has not hitherto been 
explained. 



188 ETHEROPATHY. 

Say to the subject, " I am going to excite your Comba- 
tiveness, and you will be very angry." Now, touch his 
Combativeness, and he will be angry — touch his Tune, and, 
if he knows what organ you intended to touch, he will 
begin to make music. If he even suspects what you wish, 
he will oftentimes act accordingly. But if he has no idea 
what you expect, he will do nothing. If the subject does 
not know the location of any organ, and you say nothing 
and give him no clue to your designs, you cannot excite his 
organs by merely touching them. If you succeed in exciting 
his organs when he is ignorant of your intention, it is done 
by Will, by Sympathy, or by Clairvoyance — but touching 
them, according to the method of Dr. Buchanan, is all a 
farce, and the astounding discoveries which he has pre- 
tended to make by this means, are a still greater farce : the 
wonder is, that so many respectable men should have been 
so grossly deceived by his experiments. In making these 
remarks, I do not mean to be understood as impeaching the 
integrity of Dr. Buchanan. I know but little of him, but I 
suspect that he began by deceiving himself. 

In order to explain these experiments we must first un- 
derstand the nature of the organ of Credenciveness, the pro- 
pensity to act upon testimony or assertion. It is a conform- 
ing social propensity, and its natural stimulus is an assertion. 

1. It is a, propensity, and operates like every other pro- 
pensity. We must, in order to understand Credenciveness, 
therefore, acquire a clear notion of the manner in which a 
propensity operates. It produces a tendency to act in a 
peculiar manner. It sends a current of Etherium through 
the motor nerves to the muscles, and either originates a 
motion or modifies a motion which other propensities origi- 
nate. It antagonizes other propensities which are opposed 
to it, and neutralizes them or combines with them. 

It produces a state of Consciousness peculiar to itself, and 
when predominant it causes other propensities and the in- 



CREDENCIVE INDUCTION. 189 

tellectual faculties to conform to it and act as its auxili- 
aries. 

When greatly excited by any extraordinary stimulus, it 
governs the individual, and produces such uncontrolable 
tendencies to gratify itself as to constitute a peculiar species 
of monomania. This is a general definition and description 
of a propensity such as Credenciveness is. 

2. It is a social propensity, and every social propensity 
gives a tendency to act with reference to others, and for the 
benefit directly or indirectly of others. Social beings are 
the objects from which its stimulus proceeds. 

3. It is a conforming social propensity. The whole group 
to which it belongs have this peculiar character, that they 
all tend to conform to the wishes, feelings, actions, com- 
mands and assertions of others. 

The conforming socials, when predominant in an indi- 
vidual, give him a yielding, obliging, credulous character, 
and render him highly susceptible to the influence of per- 
suasion, command, example, or assertion. These organs in- 
clude Submissiveness, the propensity to obey — Kindness, the 
propensity to oblige — Imitativeness, the propensity to sym- 
pathize and to imitate — and Credenciveness, the propensity 
believe and to act upon testimony. 

4. The appropriate stimulus of Credenciveness is asser- 
tion. It is the highest organ of the social class, and dis- 
tinguishes man from the lower animals as much as any other 
propensity, and perhaps more. Were it not for this, human 
society would be reduced to an equally degraded condition 
with that of the brutes. 

The child believes and acts upon the assertion of his 
parent instinctively, and thus avails himself of his ex- 
perience and knowledge. The courts of justice are founded 
upon the principle of belief; they act altogether upon the 
testimony and assertions of others, and not from their own 
experience and knowledge. History and tradition is based 



190 ETHEROPATHY. 

upon it; indeed all literature, and all the modes in which 
we record or communicate the acts, the experience, or the 
thoughts of others, are dependent upon Credenciveness. 
Any expression of others excites it ; but an assertion made 
by one who is supposed to be of superior authority, power, 
or knowledge — this is its highest stimulus, and excites it to 
its highest degree of activity — even to monomania. When 
Credenciveness is uncommonly large, and Firmness and the 
Reflectives small, an assertion, however extraordinary, is re- 
ceived with confidence. It requires but little aid from mes- 
meric or etherean induction to render some men mere ma- 
chines in the hands of those whose assertions they believe. 

Now we must consider that the tendency of etherizing or 
inducting a subject, is, to bring him under the influence of 
the operator ; to make him submit and sympathize, conform 
and confide in the operator. Its first and most powerful 
effect is, upon the conforming socials, to excite them, and 
to exalt them to monomania. The conforming socials were 
designed to be stimulated by the words and examples, the 
actions and commands of others. Their very nature is such 
as to cause their possessor to be influenced. They are pe- 
culiarly open and susceptible to all kinds of stimuli which 
tend to give others an influence over us ; and, of course, 
they are peculiarly susceptible to the influence of the cur- 
rents of Etherium, which proceed from the operator. If 
they are more affected by his attempts to influence the sub- 
ject, than any other organs are, it is because it is their 
function — their nature — their vocation. 

Let us now consider, that when a subject is perfectly 
inducted, the mere silently expressed will of the operator 
can influence him, and cause him to move or feel in any 
desired way. No assertion in this case is necessary — no 
sound — no sign — no external muscular motion. There is 
nothing but the operation of the silent but potent will. 

On the other hand, let us consider, that, when the sub- 



CREDENCIVE INDUCTION. 191 

ject is not inducted, but is in his ordinary and normal con- 
dition, the will of the operator has no effect unless expressed 
in a certain way, by voice or other sign, which the subject 
perceives by the aid of his senses. Here we have two 
opposite conditions ; one in which the subject is isolated 
from the influence of the operator, except in a certain way 
which the Creator has prescribed ; the other a condition 
in which the isolation is entirely overcome, so that every 
motion of the operator is a cause of motion in the subject. 

Now, between these two extreme conditions of perfect 
induction and non-induction, there are, of course, many in- 
termediate states or degrees of induction. 

What is the first degree ? What organs (in most cases) 
first feel the effects of the inducting process ? I answer, 
the conforming socials, and especially Credenciveness ; for, 
if an assertion produced a certain degree of influence upon 
the mind of the subject before the induction commenced, it 
produces more and more as you proceed. At first your 
assertion that he cannot open his eyes or raise his hand, 
merely renders the movement difficult ; next it is more 
difficult ; next it can only be done by a vigorous effort ; 
then it cannot be done at all. 

You can generally affect his eyes first, then his mouth 
slightly, then his hands. His hands will at first be so slightly 
affected, that when you assert that he cannot separate them, 
you must hold them together lightly by pressing upon them ; 
next they will adhere without pressure ; and, finally, pro- 
ceeding from one step to another with a degree of rapidity 
very different in different subjects, we acquire control over 
every power of mind and body, so that he will frown, or 
smile, or weep at our command or assertion merely. If 
we proceed still farther, we gradually, in many subjects, 
acquire a power of moving their organs by merely willing, 
and without expressing our will by any sign ; but, in these 
cases, though neither assertion nor sign is necessary to 



192 ETHEROPATHY. 

influence the subject, yet an assertion, if made, is wonder- 
fully potent. The influence of assertions, and the disposi- 
tion to conform, is in proportion to the degree of induction 
of the conforming socials. It is generally supposed by those 
who see experiments of this kind performed, that the oper- 
ator accompanies his assertion by an effort of his will. 
This, however, is not the case. If the operator makes an 
assertion, it will have nearly as much effect though he wills 
that it shall have no effect whatever. This proves that it 
is the assertion and not the will. We are so constituted 
that we take the assertion of our fellow beings as the true 
expression of their will, and we sometimes believe them in 
spite of all our efforts to resist the belief. 

In order to understand these experiments, another pecu- 
liarity of the mind must be taken into account, with which 
keepers of the insane are familiar ; and that is that the na- 
ture of delusion is such that the patient or subject is positive 
that he is not deluded. To him it seems like reality and 
truth ; his Consciousness does not inform him that one of his 
propensities has obtained a mastery over the rest and is 
misleading him. It is common to see insane persons be- 
lieving themselves to be animals, plants, or glass vessels ; 
and the most positive and palpable proof of their error has 
no^ convincing effect upon their minds. Indeed we see 
many persons, who are generally supposed to be sane, who 
being possessed with a favorite idea seem incapable of ap- 
preciating the most conclusive arguments which show its 
erroneousness. In these cases I presume that there is a 
slight degree of monomania. 

We also find many insane persons who are rational on 
every subject but one, and the instant that is mentioned 
they betray the highest degree of monomania. 

The antagonism of the organs must also be understood, in 
order to explain the hesitation, doubt and wavering which 
subjects often exhibit when but slightly affected- It is com- 



CREDENCIVE INDUCTION. 193 

mon for them to deny that they believe the assertion of the 
operator, and yet they will act as if they do believe it ; for 
instance : say to the subject — " That piece of silver is red- 
hot and will burn you if you touch it ;" he will perhaps ans- 
wer that he does not believe it and will advance towards it 
and put forth his hand to touch it, but the very way in 
which he moves shows that he suspects, at least, that it 
may be true. He first holds his fingers very near, then 
cautiously touches it, and perhaps expresses his surprise 
that it is actually hot. Sometimes, though rarely, he will 
say, " I know it is not so, though it seems so ;" ask him 
how he knows that it is not really so, and he will ans- 
wer, that former experience and the testimony of all around, 
that he is deluded by the inductive operation, make him 
think that it must be so, though his senses assure him that they 
are all mistaken. This contradiction arises, in a great meas- 
ure, from the opposing effects of the Ipseals and the gov- 
erning socials, especially Imperativeness and Firmness. 
They are the natural antagonists of the conforming socials ; 
they give a tendency to act independently of the influence 
of others ; and it is from them that the suggestions arise in 
opposition to the assertions of the operator, when those as- 
sertions contradict our own experience. 

If the process of induction did not operate as a stimulus 
to the conforming socials in particular — if it stimulated the 
governing equally with the conforming socials, the experi- 
ments which depend upon the influence of assertion could 
not be performed at all. 

Strange as it may seem, however, it is a fact, that a per- 
son of intelligence and education, with whom I am acquaint- 
ed, although I have explained to him the nature of the in- 
fluence which I have obtained over him — although he knows 
as well as I do that it is his own Credenciveness thatparal- 
izes his muscles, yet when I assert that he cannot open his 
eyes, he instantly loses all control over them. 



194 ETHEROPATHY. 

Such is the nature of Credenciveness, that it responds to 
its appropriate stimulus involuntarily and irresistibly. In 
this respect it is like Sanativeness or Pneumativeness, or 
any other propensity. When Sanativeness receives its ap- 
propriate stimulus, it instantly acts, and with uncontrolable 
power. For instance — when we are wounded or burned 
we cannot help feeling pain, for Sanativeness is instantly 
roused and produces pain and a kind of action calculated to 
relieve the pain. This affection of Sanativeness is irresisti- 
ble and involuntary ; precisely so it is with Credenciveness 
when excited by an assertion. 

But there is another and more complicated process to be 
explained. When the operator asserts that a piece of silver 
will burn the subject's finger if he touches it, the assertion 
being the natural stimulus of Credenciveness, of course, 
excites it ; the subject touches the piece of silver and in- 
stantly feels pain. Now pain is a state of Consciousness 
produced by Sanativeness, and not by Credenciveness ; and 
an assertion is not the appropriate stimulus of Sanativeness. 
The question is, what roused Sanativeness ? If the asser- 
tion did not excite it, what did ? I answer, that the assertion 
excited Credenciveness ; and Credenciveness, through Con- 
sciousness, excited Sanativeness ; according to the principle 
which I have explained in the article upon the inter-phreno 
senses. It must, however, be constantly borne in mind, that 
the brain of the etherized or inducted subject is in a condi- 
tion which renders it liable to be affected in an extreme and 
morbid degree. The principle that one highly stimulated 
organ may etherize or induct the rest of the brain, or that 
it may at least act as auxiliary to the operator, is of very 
great importance in explaining the fact that a subject can be 
put to sleep without the will of the operator. 

I say, for instance, to a subject, " Sit down, close your eyes 
and let me put you to sleep." He sits down and I put my 
hand upon him, or stand and look at him, or pretend to look 



SYMPATHY. 195 

at him, and pretend to be willing him to sleep ; though, in 
fact, I am thinking all the time of something else ; perhaps 
I am actually willing that he shall not go to sleep ; yet he 
does go to sleep just as usual. Now in this case his own 
Credenciveness was the principal operator, and inducted all 
the other organs — neutralized some and made others auxili- 
aries. Again ; I say to the subject, " To-morrow at one 
o'clock you will go to sleep." When the time arrives he 
actually goes to sleep, unless he forgets my assertion. I have 
known them to forget, and, in that case, not be affect- 
ed at all when the time arrived. Does not this prove that 
the power that affects them is within themselves ? 

Credenciveness may be excited to a peculiar and morbid 
action by the process of the operator, or by disease ; but, 
when thus excited, it produces the phenomena without any 
other aid from external influences. This explanation of 
the nature of Credenciveness, is a key to most of the won- 
derful experiments and discoveries of Buchanan and Sun- 
derland ; of Braid, Hall and Elliotson. It explains, also, the 
apparent contradictions and absurdities which embarrassed 
the celebrated French committee of which Dr. Franklin was 
a member. 

4. SYMPATHY PRODUCED EY INDUCTION. 

When the inductive process has been completely success- 
ful — when many of the organs of the operator have com- 
municated their motions to the corresponding organs of the 
subject, and have established such a connection that a move- 
ment of the operator is immediately followed by a similar 
movement of the subject, and a feeling of the operator's 
mind is followed by a similar feeling in the mind of the 
subject — this is sympathy ; and by the word sympathy I 
mean a condition of the subject induced by the operator in 
consequence of a connection and communication between 
them ; — I mean a condition which is the effect of a similar 



196 ETHEROPATHY. 

condition of the operator. The condition of the operator 
is the cause, and the condition of the subject is the effect. The 
currents of Etherium from the organs of the operator to the 
organs of the subject are the means by which the effect is 
produced. The isolation of the organs of the subject was 
an obstacle to the currents of the operator ; the process of 
etherean induction removed or overcame the obstacle ; the 
currents of the operator's Etherium, after having first moved 
the organs of the operator himself, proceeded to the corres- 
ponding organs of the subject and moved them in a similar 
manner, though in a slighter degree. This is sympathy in 
a strictly philosophical sense. Sometimes it is so perfect 
that the very same ideas, thoughts, images, colors, forms 
and sounds which occupy the mind of the operator, are 
made to occupy the mind of the subject by sympathy. 

The operator can put another person into communication 
with the subject, and then the subject will sympathize with 
him also in the same manner, and upon the same principle. 
The only difficulty is in first overcoming the isolation. 
When this is done, any person who is put into communica- 
tion, may become the cause or object of the subject's sym- 
pathy. The subject may read his thoughts and feelings by 
sympathy. 

In my " New System of Phrenology," I pointed out the 
fact, for the first time, that normal sympathy depends upon 
the organ of Imitativeness ; that being a conforming social 
propensity, it gives a tendency to do as others do, and feel 
as others feel ; and that, by giving a disposition to observe 
and think upon what others do, in order to imitate them 
and sympathize with them, it becomes an essential element 
in the faculty of learning human nature. On page 292, I 
stated that this organ contributes to give elevation to the 
forehead, and added — u This explains why authors and 
painters and orators, who have been most felicitous in their 
descriptions of human nature, have high foreheads ." 



IMITATIVENESS. 197 

Now, it may seem almost incredible to the candid and 
honest reader, yet it is but too true, that after I and my 
pupils had publicly taught this doctrine for years, and pub- 
lished it in thousands of volumes all over the country, an 
individual had the effrontery to pretend that he had discov- 
ered the organ of Human JTature in the front part of Imi- 
tativeness. The truth is, every organ of man is an organ of 
human nature, and must be possessed by self in order to be 
understood in others : but the social organs all o-ive a ten- 
dency to leajn the minds of others. The conforming socials, 
and particularly Imitativeness, give this tendency more than 
any others ; it is in this sense only that there is any organ 
in man relating to a knowledge of human nature. As I 
have given much prominence to Credenciveness and Imita- 
tiveness in this work, I will quote the following explanation 
of them from my work on Phrenology : 

11th. imitativeness. 
This is the propensity- to copy the actions of superiors — 
to follow the example of those whom we reverence — to 
adopt the manners and peculiarities of those with whom we 
associate. It is very active during the early years of life, 
before children are capable of judging of the propriety or 
impropriety of their acts. It enables them to avail them- 
selves of nearly all the practical advantages of their parent's 
experience. A thousand little necessary arts, the nature of 
which it would be impossible for them to understand, are 
practiced instinctively under the influence of Imitativeness. 
The organs of both Playfulness and Imitativeness are much 
larger in children than adults, and they are both of very 
great importance in education. I\Ian is termed, by Aristotle, 
the imitative animal. Darwin remarks, that u Not only do 
the greatest part of mankind learn all the common arts of 
life by Imitation, but brute animals seem capable of acquir- 
ing knowledge with greater facility by imitating each other, 



198 ETHEROPATIIY. 

than by any method by which man can teach them." " This 
propensity to imitate, not only appears in the actions of 
children, but in all the customs and fashions of the world. 
Many thousands tread in the beaten paths of others, for one 
who traverses regions of his own discovery." 

Dr. Gall first discovered this organ in those who mani- 
fested a talent for mimicking, and he therefore named it the 
organ of Mimicry. Spurzheim and Combe considered it 
the propensity of Imitation in general. I agree with those 
eminent phrenologians so far as they have gene, but I do 
not think that they have given sufficient importance to this 
propensity ; nor taken into account the designs of the Cre- 
ator in bestowing it. They have hitherto only spoken of it 
as it is exhibited by mimics, actors, artists and dramatists ; 
but these are its extraordinary manifestations, when pecu- 
liarly combined with other powers. I consider Imitative- 
ness a social propensity, designed to enable mankind to con- 
form to the manners and habits of each other. It partially 
supplies the power of reason before reason is ripe, by enabl- 
ing the young, the ignorant and the inferior, to imitate 
the actions of their parents, masters and other superiors. 

Imitativeness is a conforming social propensity ; and nat- 
urally acts in combination with Submissiveness. Although 
we may imitate those whom we do not respect, that is not 
the proper mode, but may be considered rather as an abuse, 
and a deviation from its original intention. We always direct 
the imitation of the young to the great and good, to those 
whom we most respect, and whose example we consider 
most worthy of imitation. In accordance with this fact is 
the anatomical arrangement of the convolution of this or- 
gan : it originates at Submissiveness, and runs forward par- 
allel with Kindness, until it reaches the Reflectives. [See 
the engraving of the bust.] Imitativeness should always be 
explained in connection with Submissiveness ; it is a mere 
superaddition to it, to carry out the plan of conformity. 






IMITATIVENESS. 199 

There is also an intimate relation between Kindness and 
and this propensity. Imitativeness disposes us to conceive 
the feelings of others, and Kindness is a propensity to grati- 
fy those feelings. The feeling of sympathy, in my opinion, 
depends principally upon Imitativeness. When explaining- 
Kindness, I stated that in order to pity others, we must first 
experience similar feelings to theirs ; and in order to expe- 
rience similar feelings, we must possess similar organs. 
Kindness is superadded to the other propensities, to dispose 
us to gratify the feelings which those propensities produce ; 
and Imitativeness is superadded, to dispose us to understand 
those feelings that we may be the better enabled to gratify 
them. Darwin says, " Imitation is repetition, which is the 
easiest kind of animal action." If this definition is correct, 
then this is a propensity to repeat the actions of others ; 
and not their actions only, but their dress and language 
and mechanical performances. Now, if my views are cor- 
rect, sympathy is a repetition in our own minds, of the feel- 
ings of others, and depends upon this propensity. " Many 
young men," says Darwin, " fall sick on seeing surgical 
operations performed, and even feel pain in the same part 
of their own bodies ; that is, they in some measure imitate 
in their own fibres, the violent actions which they witness 
in those or others." " The effect of this powerful agent, 
Imitation, in the moral world, is the foundation of all our 
mental sympathies with the pains and pleasures of others ; 
and is, in consequence, the source of all our virtues. For in 
what consists our sympathies with the miseries, or with the 
joys of our fellow-creatures, but in an involuntary excitation 
of ideas in some measure similar, or imitative of those which 
we believe to exist in the minds of the persons whom we 
commiserate or congratulate ?" 

Sympathy, is a term which is frequently used as if it 
was synonymous with pit}- ; but pity is a feeling produced 
by Kindness, and sympathy is a feeling produced princi- 



200 ETHEROPATHY. 

pally by Imitativeness. As Imitativeness and Kindness 
naturally act together, and are generally combined with 
other propensities, it is sometimes difficult to distinguish 
which has the greatest share in producing the mingled emo- 
tions. In some late examinations which I have made of 
the human brain, I found that the furrow which separates 
Kindness from Imitativeness, is very shallow, being not 
more than half an inch deep ; whereas the furrow between 
Credenciveness and Imitativeness is more than an inch and 
a half. This anatomical fact coincides with these views, 
and explains why the two organs are so apt to act in com- 
bination, and mutually to excite each other. When ex- 
plaining Kindness, I showed that it always acts in combina- 
tion with one or more of the lower propensities ; I now add, 
that it also acts, in every well-balanced mind, in combina- 
tion with Imitativeness ; and what is commonly understood 
by the term sympathy, when applied to the joys and sorrows 
of others, is a compound feeling, produced by the united 
action of those two propensities. For instance, if one of 
our neighbors has lost his child, our Parentiveness, Kind- 
ness and Imitativeness combine to produce towards him the 
feeling of sympathy. If cur Parentiveness is large, judging 
by our own experience, we conclude that he must be deep- 
ly afflicted ; but this is not sympathy. If our Kindness is 
large, we pity him, and are anxious to do all in our power 
to console him ; but neither is this sympathy. Now, if our 
Imitativeness is large, we not only pity him, but we join 
with him in lamenting the loss of the child — we feel as he 
feels, but not so intensely. This is sympathy : pity is di- 
rected towards him, but sympathy is a feeling that mingles 
with his, and flows on in the same course : the only differ- 
ence is, that his is the main current that draws the others 
for a time in the same direction. 

A person having Imitativeness very large, with Kindness 
small, will be able to conceive how another feels — will, as 



IMITATIVENESS. 201 

it were, imitate or repeat imperfectly in his own mind, the 
feelings of others ; but will have no very strong desire to 
gratify, or relieve them : yet this is one kind of sympathy ; 
though not such as proceeds from a well balanced mind. 
Lavater remarks, in substance, that by imitating the expres- 
sion of another, we may partially experience his feelings ; 
and I doubt not that this is true, especially of those who 
have Imitativeness very large. 

Spurzheim, Combe and all other phrenologians, agree in 
denominating this propensity a feeling of imitation ; but 
imitation is an action produced by the propensity of Imita- 
tiveness. It would be absurd to say " I feel imitation ;" but 
it is perfectly proper to say " I act in imitation ;" and it is 
also proper to say " I feel sympathy." I therefore name 
this the propensity of Imitativeness, — the feeling which it 
produces I call sympathy, — and the actions which it pro- 
duces I denominate imitations. If the term sympathy does 
not convey the precise idea of the feeling produced by Imi- 
tativeness, then I know of none in our language that does. 
I have, in writing this work, often felt a necessity for new 
terms, to express more precisely the different feelings ; and 
I doubt not that as the science continues to progress, im- 
provements will be introduced in this important part of the 
nomenclature of mental philosophy. 

Those who have this organ large, are capable of conform- 
ing to the manners and habits of those with whom they 
associate, much more readily than those who have it mode- 
rately developed ; they seem to have the power of approach- 
ing in a proper and successful manner, those who occupy 
eminent stations. They are more easy and graceful in their 
manners, and can readily adapt themselves to the feelings, 
actions and situations of others. It is large in those who 
are capable of representing the feelings and actions of others, 
in writing, or speech ; and no man can easily excel as an 
actor, orator, artist, dramatic author, ventriloquist, dancer, 



202 ETHEROPATHY. 

or musician, unless this is fairly developed. In proof of 
this, we find it large in the portraits, or heads, of all who 
are eminent in either of these professions. It gives the 
dramatic author the power of calling up in his own mind 
the same train of ideas and feeling, that he supposes the 
character to possess whom he describes ; and having thus, 
as it were, imbued himself with their spirit, and made their 
case his own, he proceeds to pour out their feelings in lan- 
guage such as that of Shakspeare, Voltaire, Walter Scott, 
and other writers of this class. If they are public speakers, 
their elocution will be graceful and appropriate ; such as 
that of Henry Clay. If they are actors, their personations 
will be striking representatives of real life. If they are 
artists, they will copy the works of others, or nature, in 
such a manner as very much to resemble the original. 
Imitativeness is intimately related to the intellect. The 
organ runs forward from Submissiveness, until it terminates 
in the Reflective Faculties ; accordingly we find that its 
operation is very much modified by the degree and manner 
in which the intellect is developed. If the Reflectives are 
large they give originality to the thoughts, they check the 
improper activity of Imitativeness, and give a disposition to 
imitate or adopt principles, instead of actions. If the Re- 
flectives are not large, and the Perceptives are much 
developed, then there will be a manifestation of practical, 
or mechanical imitation ; such as is manifested by mimics, 
and superfical geniuses, who can quickly learn to perform 
operations, the nature of which they are incapable of under- 
standing. Those authors who are incapable of reasoning 
profoundly, but who can write racily and pictorially, and 
readily adapt their style to the subject, will invariably be 
found to have moderate reflectives, and large perceptives 
and Imitativeness. They 

" Catch the manners living as they rise." 



IMITATIVENESS. 203 

They describe things as they see and feel and hear them, 
but do not attempt to account for them. Most of the writ- 
ings of novelists are of this character. 

I have never seen a good actor, however large his Imita- 
tiveness might be, who had not large perceptives. 

This propensity sometimes combines with the other high 
propensities and the reflectives, and manifests itself only in 
a moral way, by conforming to the precepts and following 
the moral and religious examples of others. Such persons 
are apt to suppose that they should have the organ small, 
because they have never manifested it in a mimicking, or 
a mechanical way ; but this common error is owing to the 
manner in which the propensity has been explained. Phre- 
nologians have hitherto treated it as a peculiarity of artists 
and dramatists, and have almost entirely overlooked its 
higher and nobler purposes, as a conforming social propen- 
sity, superadded to Submissiveness and Kindness : the fact 
is, the manner in which it is manifested, depends much 
upon the organs with which it is combined. 

There are some species of animals that manifest Imita- 
tiveness very distinctly, particularly the monkey tribes ; 
and I have found the organ plainly developed in the brains 
of animals, as the swine, cat, dog, horse, &c, some of 
which manifest it in so low a degree that we should not 
have suspected them of possessing it ; but it is probably 
useful to them as a social propensity." 

It should be mentioned that subjects are apt to be seized 
with a most ludicrous disposition to imitate every one whom 
they see, or with whom they are in communication. I do 
not now refer to the sympathy which I have been describing, 
but they imitate, just as they do in the normal state, by 
looking at a thing, or feeling its motions, and then repeating 
or imitating;. It would seem that all the conforming; socials 
are excited by induction, and their activity explains many 
curious phenomena. It accounts most satisfactorily for 



204 ETHEROPATHY. 

their disposition to conform to the wishes of the operator, 
and to endeavor to make all his plans and experiments suc- 
ceed, so that it almost always seems as if there is collusion 
between the operator and the subject, while, in fact, they 
are both perfectly honest and innocent in their intentions. 
The subject deceives by endeavoring to gratify, what he 
believes to be the wishes of the operator. 

12th. credenciveness, or marvelousness. 

" This is the propensity to act upon the testimony of 
others — to give credence to the assertions, and conform to 
the opinions of those with whom we associate, and whom 
we reverence. It is intimately related to Submissiveness ; 
and usually acts in combination with it. The convolution 
of the brain which constitutes this organ, originates at Sub- 
missiveness, forms a kind of elbow against Hopefulness, and 
runs forward to Causality. This arrangement is not with- 
out an important and obvious purpose. Although it is true 
that every organ in the brain is in some degree related to 
every other organ, yet there is a more intimate relation 
between some than others ; and those which associate most 
in action will be found to be associated and arranged to- 
gether in the brain. These remarks apply with peculiar 
force to Submissiveness, Credenciveness and Hopefulness. 
We give most credence to those whom most we reverence, 
and our hopes are greatly modified by our belief, while both 
hope and faith are very dependent upon Causality. 

I consider this propensity as designed, like all the others, 
to produce actions, or to modify actions which other pro- 
pensities originate. Marvelousness and Wonder are feel- 
ings, which, under some circumstances, precede the actions, 
just as pity precedes the actions produced by Kindness. In 
order to determine the kind of actions which Credencive- 
ness produces, we must consider the relation which it bears 
to Submissiveness, and to the other propensities ; and en- 



CREDENCIVENESS. 205 

deavor to ascertain its utility in promoting the harmonious 
operations of society. It is my opinion, that belief in testi- 
mony of all kinds, depends upon this propensity. Faith, 
belief, conviction, are its ordinary affections, when acting 
in combination with the intellect, upon a subject that can 
be understood. Wonder and Marvelousness are caused by 
its operation when the subject is extraordinary, and not fully 
understood. Combined with Submissiveness, it disposes to 
faith in the testimony of others, on account of our respect 
for their characters. This principle is recognized in all 
courts, that the more exalted and honorable the character 
of the witness, the more credit is due to his testimony. 
The organ is much larger in children than adults, and 
enables them to rely with perfect confidence in the state- 
ments of their parents. Such is the constitution of their 
minds, that they believe the most extraordinary thing upon 
the bare assertion of their parents or guardians. And this 
is necessary in order to govern and guide them, in cases 
where they have no experience, of their own. 

When explaining Hopefulness, the highest of the Ipseals, 
I stated that it is related to futurity through the medium of 
Causality. The same is true of Credenciveness. That 
which is present, and subject to the test of the senses and 
lower Perceptives, cannot be a subject of belief — it is posi- 
tive knowledge. But when any thing is absent, or con- 
tingent, or to come, it is then a legitimate subject for the 
exercise of this propensity. It is more dependent upon 
Causality than any of the other Socials ; and is much more 
directly related to it. In the brain, the convolution of Cre- 
denciveness seems to go forward on purpose to join Cau- 
sality. Indeed, the Reflectives can hardly be said to guide 
the Socials, except through the medium of this important 
propensity. Firmness, Submissiveness and Conscientious- 
ness are greatly affected by a change in belief. 

Every proposition, the truth of which we cannot test by 



206 ETHEROPATHY. 

the evidence of our own senses, if it is probable, or even 
possible, is calculated to excite and gratify Credenciveness. 
But its most natural stimulus is the testimony of intelligent 
beings. I consider it as specially designed to make us act 
upon the testimony of others, and particularly of our supe- 
riors, in cases where we cannot have the evidence of our 
senses. Impressions enter through the senses to the Per- 
ceptives, and are analyzed, classed and connected by the 
Reflectives. Causality performs the last and highest pro- 
cess of intellect ; and if the proposition is not perfectly 
self-evident, it becomes a matter of belief or of skepticism ; 
that is, it becomes an appropriate stimulus for Credencive- 
ness. This propensity is, of course, modified in its action 
according to the nature of the subject, the amount of evi- 
dence, the proportion of Credenciveness to intellect, and 
the effect which it is to have upon our interests, or our 
hopes. Whether an individual will be skeptical or credu- 
lous, depends upon the proportion which his intellect bears 
to Credenciveness and Submissivenss. Those who have 
very high but shallow foreheads, are apt to be foolishly credu- 
lous ; and those who have low and prominent foreheads, are 
inclined to skepticism. They wish to investigate much and 
believe but little. There is a third class who have fore- 
heads wide, high and prominent — they love to believe when 
they can; but they cannot without proper investigation. They 
examine thoroughly, and believe sincerely, many contro- 
verted doctrines — they seem to take pleasure in revolving 
in their minds doubtful subjects, even if they cannot quite 
believe them. If it is something which challenges be- 
lief — if it has probability or even possibility in its favor, it 
is a proper subject to stimulate and delight this propensity, 
and produce the feeling of marvelousness. This enables 
us to understand the character of novelists and romancers 
and dramatic authors, such as Scott, Voltaire, Shakspeare 
and Tasso, who all had very high foreheads, particularly 



CREDENCIVENESS. 207 

in the region of this organ and Imitativeness. Those who 
have been remarkable for faith upon religious subjects, have 
the same development, combined with Submissiveness. 
Such are Bunyan, Baxter, Swedenborg, Irving, Wesley 
and hundreds with whom I am acquainted. 

I consider this as one of the most important elements of a 
love of knowledge. The ability or the talent of knowing, 
depends upon the iutellect — but the desire, the love, the 
proneness to learn, depends upon the propensities. Each 
propensity produces a desire to know that which will be 
gratifying to itself. The highest gratification of Credencive- 
ness consists in knowing what people have said or written. 
It is easy, therefore, to understand why those who have it 
large should be very fond of reading or hearing the extra- 
ordinary assertions of others, and of inquiring into their 
truth. If the intellect is large, they will be commonly suc- 
cessful in their inquiries ; but if it is small, they may be in- 
duced to give credence to the most absurd statements. It is 
this propensity that makes us love to hear or read extraor- 
dinary things, even if we do not believe them. It seems as 
if some love to stretch their faith to its utmost, just to give 
it exercise ; the more marvelous the story, the better it 
suits them : and if Submissiveness is large, and the state- 
ment is made upon high authority, it becomes perfectly 
charming. This organ is larger in youth than adults, and 
women than men. It accounts for the love of the marvel- 
ous manifested by children ; for the pernicious novel read- 
ing habits of girls ; and for the ease with which impostors of 
all descriptions succeed with the generality of females. I 
have noticed that those women, who in youth read the most 
novels, and the least science, in maturer years are the most 
prone to superstition and fanaticism. They are much greater 
sticklers for matters of mere faith and form, than for moral 
and christian practice. 

The exposition which I have made of this propensity, 



208 ETHEROPATHY. 

shows that it is one of very great importance in society. It 
is the grand lever, by means of which the few can govern 
the many more despotically than by any other. It is for 
this reason that the union of church and state is a desirable 
object with all despots, and adds immensely to their power. 

This is plainly, then, a conforming Social propensity ; 
since it is the means by which children and all ignorant 
persons are guided. Nothing renders a man more ungov- 
ernable, or unamiable, than a disposition to doubt every 
thing he hears ; and to rely entirely upon his own judgment 
and observation, instead of giving due weight to the testi- 
mony of others. 

In regard to the lower animals, it is more difficult to 
show that they possess Credenciveness, than any of the 
other Socials. It is certain than they have it in a less de- 
gree than any of the others, which alone is sufficient to 
prove its exalted nature. 

It is worthy of remark, that Hopefulness, the highest 
Ipseal, Credenciveness, the highest Social, and Causality, 
the highest Intellectual, are connected together at the 
top of the brain ; and it is curious to study the relation in 
which these three important powers stand to each other, 
and to the Perceptives. The Lower and Middle Percep- 
tives are related to that which is perceptible, present and 
certain. The Reflectives, to that which is certain, but 
which is not present to the senses ; and which is known 
only by deduction. Credenciveness to that which is pro- 
bable, and Hopefulness to that which is possible. We may 
hope for that which we do not believe — we may believe 
what we cannot prove by reasoning ; and we may prove by 
reasoning what we cannot test by the senses and Percep- 
tives. 

The region of perception is at the base of the brain ; — of 
reflection, a little higher ; [see bust,] of credence, in the 
upper part of the forehead ; and hope a little farther back. 



CREDENCIVENESS. 209 

In a well balanced mind, these will bear a just proportion 
to each other ; and in making an examination, it is of the 
very highest importance that the relative development of 
the lower and upper parts of the forehead should be com- 
pared with each other, since they have an important mutual 
influence. Those who have excelled in practical science, 
have the lower predominant ; and those who have excelled 
in fiction, the upper ; while those who have avoided both 
extremes are balanced. 



10 



SECTION XI. 



ETHEROPATHY— CONTINUED. 

5. Clairvoyance, or un-isolated perception, produced 
by the process of induction overcoming isolation. 

When the subject, without the aid of his senses, by his 
connection with the operator, perceives the same things 
which are perceived by the operator, it is perception by 
sympathy ; but when the subject, without the aid of his 
senses, perceives that which is not perceived by the opera- 
tor, it is Clairvoyance. 

The difference in principle between sympathy and Clair- 
voyance is very slight. The only difference is in the objects 
from which the currents of Etherium are evolved. When 
the organ of Consciousness and its dependent organs in the 
operator, are the points from which the emanation is evolved 
to the organ of Consciousness and other organs of the subject, 
the result is sympathy ; but when the motion of Etherium is 
evolved from any other point, through abnormal avenues, 
to the subject's organ of Consciousness, it is Clairvoyance. 
The term Clairvoyance is from from two French words, and 
strictly signifies Clear-seeing : although some word which is 
more precisely significant of un-isolated perception would be 
preferred, yet as there is no such word I shall adopt this, 
which has the advantage of being in common use, and in our 
language it has no other meaning. 

In order to understand Clairvoyance, we must consider 



CLAIRVOYANCE. 211 

* 

1st. The emanations of etherean motion from the objects 
perceived. 

2d. The isolation and induction of the brain. 
3d. The modus operandi of Consciousness. 

1st. Emanation of motion from the objects perceived. — We 
never perceive any thing unless when there is an etherean 
emanation from the object perceived. When ordinarily 
we see a thing, there is always an emanation of light 
from it to the eye. When we hear any thing, there is an 
emanation of serial vibrations from the object heard to the 
ear. When we smell any thing, there is an emanation of 
odorous particles from the odorous body. When we taste 
any thing, there is an emanation from the substance tasted, 
caused by the chemical action of the saliva upon the sub- 
stance. When we perceive any thing by touch, there is a 
motion emanating from the substance touched and passing 
to the brain, which motion was produced by the mechani- 
cal act of touching. When we feel pain, there is an ema- 
nation from the painful and injured part to the nerve which 
is connected with it, passing along the nerve to the organ of 
Sanativeness, from the organ of Sanativeness to Conscious- 
ness, producing there the feeling or consciousness of pain. 

The same reasoning applies to hunger ; it is produced by 
an emanation from the stomach to Alimentiveness, and from 
Alimentiveness to Consciousness. Suffocation is produced 
by an emanation from the lungs to Pneumativeness, and from 
this organ to Consciousness. 

In Clairvoyance, the same principle is in operation. 
There is an emanation from the object perceived to the 
central organ of Consciousness in the subject. There can- 
not possibly be any perception of any kind unless there is 
such emanation. 

2d. The Isolation and Induction of the brain. — This I 
have already explained as far as it relates to the communi- 



12 ETHEROPATHY. 

» 

cation of thought and motion from the operator to the sub- 
ject — as far as relates, in truth, to one branch of Clairvoy- 
ance, viz. : Sympathetic Clairvoyance. The same isolating 
contrivance which prevents the motions of different persons, 
and different organs of the same person, from interfering 
with each other — the very same contrivance has been in- 
stituted by the all-wise Creator to restrict and limit our 
perceptions. When we consider that motions of Etherium 
from the circumference of the brain to the centre produce 
different states of Consciousness ; when we also consider 
that every surrounding object in nature is continually re- 
ceiving and evolving emanations ; we of course must ac- 
knowledge that some contrivance is necessary to prevent 
the brain from being continually agitated, and our Conscious- 
ness from being continually excited and confused by the in- 
numerable currents and motions of Etherium which are 
constantly evolved from the infinite number of objects 
around us. This contrivance is Isolation; a peculiarity of 
the structure of organized bodies, which prevents nearly all 
external influences from interfering with their operations, 
while it admits external influences which are useful to 
them. In what the isolation consists, we know not ; we 
are certain of the fact that by some contrivance the isola- 
tion is effected, but we are, as yet, entirely ignorant of the 
mode in which it is effected. 

The eyes are not influenced by sounds, nor the ears by 
light, but Consciousness is indirectly affected by both. The 
reason is, that the eyes are isolated from all other influences 
except the stimulus of the light, and the ears are isolat- 
ed from all other influences except the stimulus of sound. 
If we had no eyes we should be entirely ignorant of the 
existence of light, because all our other organs are isolated 
from its influence. A blind man, who never heard of light 
until the age of thirty, would be perfectly skeptical con- 
cerning its existence. It would be incomprehensible to 



CLAIRVOYANCE. 213 

him that things could be perceived by eyes, at such great 
distances, while by ears they could not be perceived at all. 
Not having any experience of his own on the subject, he 
would necessarily be dependent upon the testimony of 
those about him who professed to have this wonderful facul- 
ty. Very much the same is it with us in reference to clair- 
voyant subjects. We cannot see without our eyes, nor 
hear without our ears, nor feel without contact ; but the 
inducted subject can do all this ; he, with his eyes closed and 
carefully bandaged, can see, or rather can perceive through 
walls impervious to light and sound, and at immense dis- 
tances — can perceive, indeed, in a way as incomprehensible 
to us as the perceiving with eyes was to the blind man. The 
blind man could not conceive of the existence of any fluid, 
or medium, or menstruum, finer than air. He was wholly 
ignorant concerning light, which is millions of times finer 
and more subtile than air, and can therefore penetrate where 
air cannot, and communicate its motions with a degree of 
rapidity, and to a distance of which air is altogether inca- 
pable. Yet it is very evident that there are other motions 
exceedingly more rapid than those of light. La Place de- 
monstrated, in 1773, that u the attractive force of gravity must 
be transmitted fifty million times faster than light, which travels 
at the rate of two hundred thousand miles in a second." ( See 
u Lectures on the Progress of the Physical Sciences," by Prof. 
Thompson, of the University of Glasgow.) 

Light cannot penetrate boards and stone walls, but mag- 
netic Etherium can do so ; for a magnet affects iron filings 
through such obstacles, almost as if there was nothing in 
the way ; and so also does gravitation. It is plain that if 
we could perceive through the medium of this motion of 
Etherium instead of light, we could see through boards and 
walls as easily as the magnet operates through them ; for 
the magnet operates in the dark just as well as in the light. 
We must conclude, therefore, from the great number of 



214 ETHEROPATHY. 

facts which we have upon this subject, that there is an 
Etherium, or a motion of Etherium, different from light, by 
means of which the force of gravitation is communicated ; 
and another modification of Etherium, by means of which 
magnetism penetrates through opaque bodies. It, therefore, 
requires no stretch of the imagination to admit a modifica- 
tion of Etherium which affects the brain and its organs, and 
produces Consciousness and Clairvoyance in a subject who 
is, by the process of etherean induction, brought into com- 
munication with it. 

If we analyze a sunbeam, we can demonstrate that besides 
light and heat it contains another kind or motion of Ethe- 
rium, different from light and heat, which produces power- 
ful chemical effects ; and yet we have no senses given to us 
by which to enable us to perceive by its means, though it 
may sometimes abnormally induct us and produce clairvoy- 
ant perception. 

It seems to me, that that there cannot be a doubt in the 
mind of a philosopher who examines this subject carefully, 
that there is a peculiar form or modification of Etherium, 
which has, with some propriety, been denominated animal 
magnetism, and which is concerned in producing all the phe- 
nomena of animal life and all the wonders of Etheropathy 
and mesmerism. We seem forced to this conclusion as the 
only one which will account for facts which we are not able 
to controvert. 

If we take a magnet and bring it near to a piece of iron, 
and make a number of passes across the iron, the peculiar 
motions of the magnet are communicated to the iron so 
that it becomes a magnet itself. This is Induction. A piece 
of iron cannot be placed near a magnet for any considerable 
time without becoming in some degree inducted, losing 
its own independent motions and submitting to the influence 
of the neighboring magnet. Precisely so it is with the in- 



CLAIRVOYANCE. 215 

ducted subject ; the cases are as nearly parallel as the dif- 
ferent natures of the two bodies will admit. 

3d. The mode in which the organs normally pro- 
duce Consciousness, after they are impressed by emanations 
from external objects, must be understood in order to ena- 
ble us to understand Clairvoyance. 

They produce Consciousness precisely in the same way 
in Clairvoyance as they do in ordinary normal perception. 
The difference between Clairvoyant perception and com- 
mon normal perception is in the manner in which the phre- 
no-organs are excited by the emanation ; or rather it depends 
upon the different modes by which emanations reach the 
phreno-organs to excite them to action. In common percep- 
tion the motion of Etherium is restricted to pass in certain 
prescribed avenues which we denominate the senses ; but in 
Clairvoyance, in consequence of the isolation being over- 
come, the emanation passes directly to the brain through 
the skull, or through the feet, or hands, or sides, or through 
an}* other part where the isolation is especially weakened. 

In common perception the emanation is permitted to reach 
the brain only through certain limited, denned and restricted 
avenues or senses ; and even through these passages the pure 
and unencumbered motions of Etherium do not seem to be 
allowed to pass. In the sense of taste the Etherium is con- 
veyed to (or moved in) the external organ by a liquid 
which dissolves the substance tasted. In the sense of smell 
the motions are conveyed by currents of air, which are adul- 
terated, or mingled with atoms of the odorous substance 
perceived. In the sense of hearing, the emanation is con- 
veyed in pulsations or vibrations of air. In the sense of 
sight, the emanation is conveyed or moved by currents, 
pulsations, or rays of light. 

But in Clairvoyance the brain seems to be excited by 
Etherium in a different state — by emanations which are ordi- 



216 ETHEROPATHY. 

narily excluded by isolation — and which are introduced in 
opposition to the isolating guards. When this more pure 
emanation is fairly introduced, and a current of it caused to 
proceed from a distant object to the subject, it passes direct- 
ly through the skull, or some other abnormal passages, and 
reaches the organs of Form and Color, &c, and excites them 
so as to cause them to produce a state of Consciousness the 
same as if the subject had seen the distant object with his 
eyes. I wish the idea to be distinctly understood, that Con- 
sciousness and perception of every kind is, in all cases, pro- 
duced by the Phreno-organs of the brain ; that in common 
perception and in Clairvoyance, the brain, operates in the 
same manner. In both cases the Phreno-organs must be ex- 
cited and must perform their functions before perception 
can take place. It is a great error to suppose that in Clair- 
voyance a person can perceive without his brain because he 
perceives without his senses. It is absurd to suppose that 
a person perceives color without the organ of color, because 
he perceives without his eyes. 

In order, then, to explain Clairvoyance, it is only neces- 
sary to admit that the Phreno-organs of perception may 
be excited through other avenues than the external senses. 

According to this explanation, Clairvoyance is no more 
mysterious than any other phenomena of Etheropathy or 
mesmerism. Many persons are willing to admit that sleep 
may be produced by the inducting process, but deny Clair- 
voyance as impossible ; but it will now be perceived that it 
requires no new principle to explain Clairvoyance after the 
etherean or mesmeric sleep is admitted ; for sleep and sym- 
pathy and Clairvoyance are produced in the same way, by 
the same agent and the same process applied to different 
objects. 

The inquiry will naturally arise, " Why did not the Cre- 
ator endow us all with the powers of Clairvoyance ? Why 
should such a wonderful power be withheld from the most 



CLAIRVOYANCE. 217 

perfect and healthy men, and yet be occasionally bestowed 
upon some weak and debilitated individual." To my mind, 
the reason is obvious. The Creator has placed us in a situa- 
tion where a certain amount of knowledge is necessary to 
enable us to perform our duties, and he has bestowed upon 
us organs so contrived as to enable us to acquire this know- 
ledge with ease, provided we make a proper use of the 
means which he has placed within our reach and the powers 
which he has bestowed upon us. A greater amount of know- 
ledge, instead of being a blessing, would be injurious, and 
it is withheld from us in mercy ; every animal in existence 
will be found to have the means of acquiring knowledge 
enough to harmonize with his condition and to enable him 
to satisfy his wants. More knowledge would be an em- 
barrassment. 

Suppose that a man could hear every movement which 
takes place not only on the earth but in the most distant of 
the innumerable planets ; and suppose he could see every 
thing in existence, would it not be a source of inconceiva- 
ble annoyance ? would it not render his life a burden ? I 
do not doubt that an omniscient man would be utterly mis- 
erable. It is enough for us, then, that we are so organized, 
that by making an industrious use "of our powers, we can 
learn all that it is necessary for us to know in order to en- 
able us to fulfil our destiny according to the designs of the 
Supreme Creator. 

But still you will ask, why the power of Clairvoyance is 
bestowed upon some persons ? I answer, that Clairvoyance 
is the result of weakness. It is in itself a species of disease, 
and like all other diseases it is a violation of the natural 
laws of the constitution. It was never intended by the 
Creator, so far as his intention is indicated in the organiza- 
tion of man, that such a power should be possessed by man ; 
for, instead of making any provision for it, (as he would 
doubtless have done if he had designed it,) the Creator has 
10* 



218 ETHEROPATHY. 

ordained a most wonderful series of regulations to prevent 
it. By isolating the organs and giving them limits and res- 
trictions, he has virtually said to each of them, thus far 
shalt thou go with propriety, and produce happiness, but no 
farther. Clairvoyance is an overleaping of the bounds to 
reach the forbidden fruit of the tree of prohibited knowledge. 
My object in making these remarks is not to prevent any 
one from making use of this means of acquiring knowledge, 
but to convey a clear expression of the view which I take 
of the real nature of Clairvoyance, and to rebut the absurd 
doctrine of Sunderland, Buchanan and others, that Clair- 
voyance depends upon a peculiar organ which was bestowed 
upon man for that very purpose. 



SECTION XIL 



ETHEROPATHY — CONTINUED. 

6. Deranged function produced by induction. — This prin- 
ciple, combined with the principles of Will, Sympathy, 
Credence and Clairvoyance, account for all the phenomena 
and explain all the experiments, whether they are known 
under the name of Neurology, Pathetism, Hypnotism, or 
Mesmerism : for they are in reality but so many instances 
of peculiar derangement — of abnormal condition — of depar- 
ture from proper and healthful operations. 

This is true of the Sympathy, Clairvoyance and Creden- 
cive delusion which I have already explained ; and, by ap- 
plying these principles, we may unravel any case, however 
difficult, and reduce it to such simple terms that any person 
of common intelligence can understand it. 

Bearing in mind the principles which I have already ad- 
vanced and the explanations which I have made, let us 
apply them to analyze the different phenomena which have 
been the subject of discussion and experiment by those who 
have most attracted public attention. 

The subject may be discussed under the following heads : 

1. Etheropathic, or mesmeric sleep. 

2. Manifestations of uncommon strength. 

3. Conferring extraordinary power upon medicine, water- 
motion, and other substances. 

4. Discovering diseases, their location, cause and cure. 



220 ETHEROPATHY. 

5. Reading the characters of persons with whom the 
subjects are in communication. 

6. Discoveries in phrenology and physiology. 

7. Communing with departed spirits. 

8. Abuses and dangers attending Etheropathic experi- 
ments. 

1 . Etheropathic Sleep. — This is generally one of the very 
first effects of Etheropathic Induction. The subject feels a 
sensation similar to that experienced when going into ordi- 
nary sleep ; and his nodding, and the relaxation of his mus- 
cles, often imitate common sleep perfectly. Now, mark the 
difference : a third person speaks but the subject does not 
hear him. The operator speaks and the subject hears him 
and answers, or attempts to answer and finds his tongue 
paralyzed. A third person takes hold of the subject and 
pinches him, burns him, pricks him, and tries everyway to 
excite his attention, but the subject remains totally uncon- 
scious of all his attempts. The operator gently touches 
him, and he shrinks with the strongest signs of sensitive- 
ness. The operator commands him to perceive when a 
third person touches him, and now he shows Consciousness 
in return to the slightest touch from the very person who 
could not rouse him before by the most cruel experiments. 
In order to explain this, we must recollect that the isola- 
tion of the organs of the subject is overcome, so that the 
currents of Etherium from the operator's brain interfere 
with the currents of Etherium from the brain of the sub- 
ject. The currents from the subject's brain are either 
neutralized or conformed to the currents of the operator, so 
that now no current of Etherium can enter the brain of the 
subject through the external senses ; but currents are pass- 
ing through the organs of the subject from the brain of the 
operator with great vigor. The senses of the subject can 
be affected by the operator, or by any object which the 
operator permits to be in communication. Those currents 



ABNORMAL SLEEP. 221 

are cut off which normally pass to and from the subject's 
brain and connect it with surrounding objects. 

Sometimes the external senses, the voluntary muscles 
and the organs of mind, seem to be all, or nearly all, induct- 
ed ; so that the subject is almost as entirely under the con- 
trol of the operator, as if the subject was but a part of the 
operator himself. But much oftener it happens, that all the 
efforts of the operator fail to induct the subject except in a 
few organs. At first the current from the brain of the sub- 
ject to his eyes may be interrupted, so that the subject can- 
not open them without the consent of the operator ; perhaps 
also the lips become immovable from a similar cause ; but 
the hearing is not yet much affected, and by an uncommon 
effort he can move his limbs ; the mind is but little affected 
and the subject knows what he is about and has the power, 
and perhaps the disposition, to oppose the operator and en- 
deavor to thwart his plans and wishes. The explanation 
of this is, that only a few bodily organs are cut off from 
their natural etherean connection with the brain. The other 
organs are too securely isolated, or else too powerful to 
be overcome. 

When the external senses and the perceptive organs which 
are dependent upon them are thoroughly inducted, the sub- 
ject is asleep ; that is, he is in such a condition, that if the 
operator asks him if he is asleep, he will say u yes." I 
take it that the whole brain is not asleep at this time, for 
the subject will sometimes complain of thirst, weariness, or 
suffocation ; showing that the internal-corporeal senses are 
active, and that those organs of the brain are awake which 
preside over the wants of the body, though the perceptive 
organs are undoubtedly asleep, except so far as their activity 
depends upon the operator — they are certainly in that con- 
dition, whatever it may be, which gives the subject a Con- 
sciousness that he is asleep, for he will generally answer 



222 ETHEROPATHY. 

positively that he is asleep. This leads me to inquire con- 



ORGAN OF SLEEP. 



Is there an organ of mind located in the brain, the func- 
tion of which is to give a disposition to sleep? If so, in 
what part of the brain is it located ? and what is its nature, 
its utility, and the design of the Creator in bestowing it ? To 
what class of organs does it belong, Ipseal, Social, or Intel- 
lectual ? If Ipseal, to what range of Ipseals ? 

I have reflected much upon this subject, as I deem it one 
of much interest in a phrenological point of view, and I 
have at length come to the conclusion that there is no organ 
of Sleep per se. There is a state of Consciousness which 
we call drowsiness or sleepiness, and this is accompanied 
with an inability to keep the voluntary muscles, especially 
those of the eyes, in a state of contraction. Now it must 
be. admitted, that this Consciousness of drowsiness, is pro- 
duced by a particular Phreno-organ, and so also is the con- 
traction of the muscles, which constitute wakefulness, 
dependent upon an especial Phreno-organ. The tendency 
to sleep is indicated by an inability to contract the voluntary 
muscles, and to keep the senses active. Sleep is a nega- 
tive power. A man asleep is a man doing nothing. Surety 
an organ for doing nothing is unneccessary. I have shown, 
in another place, that sleep is produced by the predomi- 
nance of the involuntary ganglia. These are the only 
organs of sleep, but they are not Phreno-organs ; they give 
no tendency to do any thing voluntarily, but on the contrary, 
they tend to prevent all voluntary action. 

The consciousness of drowsiness, which we experience, 
is produced by the organ of Sanativeness, in consequence of 
a peculiar weariness of those parts, whose function it is to 
keep the senses active, and the muscles connected with 
them in a state of contraction. 



ABNORMAL SLEEP. 223 

The function of the organ of Sanativeness, is to produce 
consciousness and action when any part is exhausted, in- 
jured, diseased, wearied, or needs our care and attention. 
If any part of the constitution is exhausted in a certain slight 
degree, Sanativeness is affected accordingly, and produces a 
consciousness of weariness ; if to a greater degree, a con- 
sciousness o£ pain ; so that weariness would seem to be but 
a slight degree of pain — it differs from pain only in degree. 
The pain produced by the injury of one part of the body, is 
different from that produced by another part, and the weari- 
ness produced by the too prolonged activity of one organ, is 
different from that produced by another. Now, it would 
seem that drowsiness is the peculiar weariness of the senses 
and their auxiliary muscles, and it affects the organ of Sana- 
tiveness accordingly. It may be that the organ of Sana- 
tiveness is constituted of a great number of departments, to 
correspond with the different parts of the body, which are 
liable to exhaustion and disease ; and if so, then there may 
be one department which presides over the sanatary condi- 
tion of the senses and their dependent muscles. Such a 
department, if it does exist, produces the consciousness of 
drowsiness, or the exhaustion of the muscles. In this sense, 
Sanativeness may be called the organ of Sleep. But an 
organ of Sleep, such as Buchanan, Sunderland and others 
admit, does not exist beyond their own imaginations. 

If there were such a propensity, it would, of course, be an 
Ipseal of the corporeal range — it would be one of the very 
lowest organs in location and function, — since the very 
lowest class of organized beings possess it in perfection, and 
sleep all, or nearly all, the time of their lives. Dr. Bu- 
chanan claims to have discovered an organ of Sleep and 
another of Somnolence ! His notions are in themselves 
really unworthy of a serious refutation. I doubt whether 
the annals of science can furnish an instance of the violation 
of all the rules of common sense equal to that which this 



224 ETHEROPATHY. 

gentleman has perpetrated under the name of "Neurology." 
His errors are so gross, and, to one acquainted with the 
elements of phrenology, so palpable, as to lead us almost 
to suspect that the doctor is amusing himself by trying ex- 
periments upon the public credulity, and attempting to rival 
Mr. Locke by producing another scientific fiction more 
marvelous than even the celebrated moon hoax. But 
there is something connected with the notions of Dr. Bu- 
chanan, that entitle them to a degree of notice which their 
intrinsic merit by no means deserve ; and that is, the cir- 
cumstance that hundreds of respectable persons, including 
some of the most distinguished men in our country, have 
been so far misled by a superficial examination as to give 
to them the sanction of their names and characters ; so that 
the general impression throughout this country, at present, 
is, that Dr. Buchanan has actually made some important 
discoveries in phrenology and physiology, and that he really 
proves phrenology by his practice of exciting the organs of 
the brain. Whereas, the truth is that he has not added 
any thing to our knowledge, nor made a single discovery. 
His pretensions may justly be classed with those of Joe 
Smith and Father Miller. I do not speak thus positively 
on this subject without having first examined it. I have 
repeated his experiments upon hundreds of susceptible sub- 
jects, and proved the utter falsity of his boasted " wonder- 
ful discoveries," by the very method which he himself pro- 
poses to establish their truth, and that is, by experiment. 
Dr. Buchanan locates his " organ of Sleep" between Com- 
bativeness and Cautiousness, and his organ of "Somnolence" 
near the organ of Tune. His location of the organ of 
" Sleep" is a violation of a perfectly established principle of 
phrenology — which is, that the powers that are the most 
essentially animal and corporeal in their nature have their 
organs in the lowest portions of the brain. How then can 
sleep have an organ above Combativeness and Acquisitive- 



ABNORMAL SLEEP. 225 

ness, where Dr. B. has placed it ? If there is a tendency 
more especially low and anti-intellectual in the catalogue of 
human powers than any other, it is the tendency to sleep : 
if, therefore, there is an organ which is the agent of this 
tendency, it must be at the very base of the brain, taking 
precedence of all others. 

But I am told, perhaps, by some very innocent witness of 
Dr. B.'s experiments, that he certainly does put his subjects 
to sleep with no other ceremony than merely holding his 
finger upon that part of the head where he has located the 
organ of sleep. I answer that I have no doubt of it ; and 
neither do I doubt that he could put them to sleep, just as 
well, by putting his finger on the nose or any other part, 
especially if the subject expected to be put to sleep and was 
susceptible. I have often put them to sleep by simply tell- 
ing them to go to sleep, and without touching them at all. 
Would it not be an unpardonable deception then, if I were 
to put my finger on a certain part of the head and pretend 
that this was the means and the organ by which the sleep 
was produced, when I could produce the same effect by 
touching any other part, or even by not touching at all ? If 
touching certain parts of a fresh subject sometimes aids and 
facilitates the sleep, it is, doubtless, because it facilitates the 
induction and stops the action of several organs, and not be- 
cause it excites a particular one. 

A person who has been once inducted, can be inducted 
again with much more ease than before. There are two 
reasons for this : one is, that the isolation is weakened and 
rendered pervious ; the other is, that the conforming organs 
are excited by the recollection that once before he has been 
overcome, and this leads him to expect and believe that he 
will be overcome again. 

There is a very great difference in subjects, in regard to 
the length of time that the influence will continue to affect 
them. Some will for weeks after they have been inducted 



226 ETHEROPATHY, 

be highly susceptible to induction, so that the slightest effort 
made by the operator, with their knowledge, is sufficient to 
render them powerless. I know a young lady of Syracuse, 
who is so susceptible, that if any one converses upon the 
subject of mesmerism in her presence, she will become rigid 
and unable to move ; the consequence is, that the family 
are obliged to abstain from mentioning the subject in her 
presence. In this case, I have no doubt that the power 
that paralyzes her is within her own brain, though the con- 
versation of others may call it into action. It is my opinion 
that any organ of the brain may paralyze the whole system 
under some circumstances : fear often does this, and so does 
joy and sorrow. Subjects are often extremely fanciful, ca- 
pricious and unmanageable, in consequence of the self-in- 
ducting power of their own organs foiling the attempts of 
the operator to influence them. Such subjects are apt to 
acquire eccentricities and apparently unaccountable pecu- 
liarities in relation to their susceptibility. The explanation 
of their cases may be found in the idle and foolish notions 
which they have imbibed. I know a lady in Cooperstown, 
for instance, who becomes instantly paralyzed if any one 
inducts or attempts to induct her for a moment, and nothing 
will relieve her but touching a certain part of her head. 
Her sister, whom she has much reason to love, fills her with 
horror if she approaches her. The medical gentleman, 
whose patient she is, was greatly puzzled with these things 
until I explained to him the nature of Credenciveness, and 
showed him by a variety of experiments that the brain 
of the subject manufactured all the difficulty, on the princi- 
ciple of insane Credenciveness, and that no other subject 
would present a case perfectly parallel unless there was an 
opportunity afforded for a communication or imitation of 
symptoms. It is not unusual for a whole community to be 
inducted by imitation and Credencive Induction, so as to be 
subject to delusions, panics and diseases ; and the most ex- 



ABNORMAL SLEEP. 227 

traordinary physical and moral effects are produced through 
the agency of the physical organs of Imitativeness and Cre- 
denciveness. A full and sufficient explanation of the causes 
of the Salem- Witchcraft delusion is furnished by applying 
these principles. 

2. MANIFESTATIONS OF UNCOMMON STRENGTH. 

The inducted subject sometimes manifests a degree of 
strength, which he cannot possibly manifest in his normal 
state. The explanation is, that the currents of Etherium 
from the brain of the operator unite their power with those 
of the subject, and both brains are actually moving one set 
of muscles through one set of nerves ; there is increased 
intensity ^ analogous to that produced in the galvanic battery 
by increasing the number of plates, so that those muscles 
can manifest a corresponding strength. Insane persons 
sometimes manifest a most wonderful amount of personal 
strength in consequence of great excitement of the brain ; 
but in their cases, the excitement is succeeeded by a re- 
action, accompanied with uncommon prostration and weak- 
ness. Not so the externally inducted subject, he often 
makes the most powerful efforts, and being thoroughly re- 
plenished and sustained by the operator, awakes without 
any sense of fatigue or exhaustion. I have observed, on 
such occasions, that the operator is exhausted though the 
subject is not ; owing, as I suppose, to the drain which the 
subject makes upon the operator. Sometimes the sub- 
ject complains of exhaustion, but this is because he is not sup- 
plied and sustained by the operator, but by his own organs, 
and they begin to feel the effect of his exertions ; or the un- 
easiness of the subject may be from sympathy with an ex- 
hausted operator. The correctness of this reasoning is con- 
firmed by the fact, that, when a subject is put to sleep and 
aroused again after a reasonable time, without being made 
to exert himself while asleep, he almost always awakes re- 



228 ETHEROPATHY. 

freshed and with a feeling similar to that experienced on 
awakening from a common sleep. 

3. CONFERRING EXTRAORDINARY POWER UPON WATER, ME- 
DICINE, FOOD, &C. 

The only way in which food, medicine, or anything else 
has any effect upon organized beings is by evolving motions 
of Etherium, which act upon the organs. The reason why 
different articles of food or medicine have different effects 
upon our organs is, because they evolve different etherean 
motions — that this is so, can easily be shown by experiment. 
Take a highly susceptible subject, one who is capable of 
Sympathy and Clairvoyance, and take any article of medi- 
cine, put it into a glass vessel carefully corked and hold it 
in your hand, or let the subject hold it, and the medicine 
will have precisely the same effect as if the subject swal- 
lowed it in the ordinary way. It seems to me impossible 
to explain this, except on the principle, that the medicine 
evolves motions of Etherium in a peculiar manner, which 
communicates with the organs of the subject and affects 
them, although the glass intervened. This can be done 
upon some subjects, even if the operator does not know 
what medicine is in the phial. Again ; the operator can pro- 
duce, by his will alone, the same effects which are produced 
by any medicine ; this fact proves that the will and the 
medicine have one power in common. What can it be but 
the power of giving peculiar motions to the Etherium ? 
Again ; the operator can do the same without either medicine 
or will, but merely by assertion. I can produce a hundred 
subjects in the valley of the Hudson River, including some of 
the most respectable persons in this State, who will make 
oath that ice burns their fingers when I assert that " it is hot" 
— and they will do this when perfectlv awake, and ap- 
parently in possession of all their faculties — being rational 
on every other subject but this. 



ABNORMAL SLEEP. 229 

I can give the subject in this condition a glass of water 
and assert that it is brandy, and it produces the same effects 
upon his taste and feelings as if it really were brandy. 
This will happen, even if I will that it shall have no effect 
at all. These are facts which cannot be denied, nor even 
doubted. The number and character of the subjects ren- 
der this impossible. I can do this to one person in twenty 
throughout the United States, and can teach any one else 
to do it. The facts must therefore be disposed of in some 
other way than by denying them. I have already explained 
them by showing that an assertion excites one of the largest 
organs of the brain, and with the aid of Induction this one 
produces a peculiar kind of monomania, in which the same 
motions are produced and imitated in the brain by the Cre- 
dencive imagination, which are ordinarily produced by the 
brandy or the fire. 

Since all sensations are immediately produced by motions 
of Etherium in the nerves and brain, any means which can 
cause those motions can produce corresponding sensations. 
An assertion produces motions in Credenciveness, and Cre- 
denciveness modifies and communicates them to all the 
other organs as far as is requisite to cause the result asserted. 
In short, the whole brain becomes the slave of Credencive- 
ness, and Credenciveness is the slave of an assertion. In 
these Credencive experiments it should be understood that 
the motions of Etherium do not emanate from the substance — 
medicine, water, &c, — but from the deranged organs of the 
subject himself. He is in the same condition as many in- 
sane persons who live for years in the belief that their own 
limbs are glass, or that they themselves are birds, or plants, 
or monarchs, or departed spirits. 

4. DISCOVERING THE DISEASES OF PATIENTS, OR OF THEM- 
SELVES, AND PRESCRIBING MODES OF CURE. 

Subjects can often discover the diseases, injuries, or pains 



230 ETHEROPATHY. 

of persons with whom they are in communication on the 
principle of Sympathy, which I have explained, or on the 
principle of Clairvoyance, or on both combined. By Sym- 
pathy, they know the feelings and motions which the patient 
experiences at the time when they are in communication. 
By Clairvoyance, they know the appearance of the injured 
parts ; and from these data they sometimes are able to prescribe 
medical treatment which is well calculated to effect a cure. 
Medicine, as I have already had occasion to explain, pro- 
duces its effects by modifying the motions of Etherium in 
the organs of the patient. There are doubtless hundreds 
of substances which possess the most powerful medical vir- 
tues, though they are not known to scientific men ; for we 
have had no means of learning the qualities of medicines 
except by accidental observations and by experiments. 

It is not unlikely that the clairvoyant subject perceives 
operations in diseased organs and virtues in medical sub- 
stances, which to one in the normal state are imperceptible. 
Perhaps the reasoning powers of the subject, as well as his 
other powers, sometimes become morbidly active, and enable 
him to judge and predict, with a degree of correctness which 
seems almost miraculous, the result of disease or the effect 
of medicine. I have thus admitted fully on this point the 
just claims of operators as far as regards the philosophical 
principles involved, and I refer to Sympathy and Clairvoy- 
ance for their explanation ; but I must now confess, that 
although true in principle, Clairvoyance is uncertain in 
practice. 

It is a fact that experiments in Clairvoyance are, in a 
majority of attempts, entire failures. It is a fact that experi- 
ments in Sympathy are successful much oftener than those 
in Clairvoyance. Yet it is also a fact that the clairvoyant 
subject is sometimes so perfectly correct, and under such 
circumstances, as to entirely exclude the possibility of de- 
ception, collusion, or mistake. This has been the great 



ABNORMAL SLEEP. 231 

t 

stumbling block of skeptics. Having perhaps heard or read 
of some astonishing feat of Clairvoyance, they protest that 
it is impossible, and accuse the narrator of falsehood or 
weakness ; and, when challenged to witness the experiment 
for themselves, they accept promptly the invitation. Prepa- 
rations are made, expectations are raised, a triumph is an- 
ticipated, when, alas ! the experiment fails. The operator 
cannot tell why ; accuses the weather, the presence of 
skeptics, the noise in the room, his own want of health or 
concentration ; offers to try it again, and then proceeds to 
give the most wonderful accounts of feats which he has 
performed on other occasions ; so he declares upon his 
honor. During all this time the skeptics, too polite per- 
haps to express their sentiments verbally, answer with 
"Oh!" "Indeed!" "and shrugs and looks of suppressed 
contempt ; and finally, take their leave fully confirmed in 
their skepticism, and afterwards refuse to listen candidly or 
look fairly upon the subject. 

Do you ask me why there need be so many failures ? 
why, if Clairvoyance succeeded yesterday, it should fail to- 
day ? I answer frankly, that I do not know ; I know the 
fact only, and I say that a thousand failures do not disprove 
one instance of success. 

The wonder to me is, not that there should be failures, 
but that there should ever be success. When I reflect that 
every successful experiment in Clairvoyance is a triumph 
over the laws of the constitution, and that creative wisdom 
has been displayed in preventing the success of such opera- 
tions, I am by no means astonished that success is an excep- 
tion and failure the general result. I am rather astonished 
that a single phenomenon of this character can be produced 
at all ; and were it not that I am forced to yield to irresisti- 
ble evidence, I should be disposed to deny the truth of 
Clairvoyance altogether ; and, indeed, of all other Ethero- 
pathic phenomena. 



232 ETHEROPATHY. 

All the different kinds of experiments are more success- 
ful at one time than another, though performed upon the 
same subject, without our being able to assign any sufficient 
reason. But when we reflect that the electric and magnetic 
states of the atmosphere are continually varying, without 
our being able to assign the reasons, we ought not to be sur- 
prised that similar variations are found in Etheropathy. 

I advise no one to rely upon clairvoyant subjects in cases 
of disease, but I would respectfully recommend to physi- 
cians to weigh their testimony candidly and give it all the 
attention which it really deserves. Let it be borne in mind, 
that though sometimes astonishingly correct, they are oftener 
insanely romantic. 

5. READING THE CHARACTERS OF THOSE WITH WHOM THE 
SUBJECT IS IN COMMUNICATION, 

This is but a species of clairvoyant sympathy, for if the 
motions of the operator or any one else in communication 
are made to affect the subject, and he is conscious of the 
affection, he can, of course, judge of its character. A sub- 
ject who is ignorant of phrenology will sometimes examine 
the head of a person and tell the character with tolerable 
accuracy. I take it that this is done by the subject being 
slightly affected by each organ, and that he judges of the 
relative influence of the mental powers by their relative ef- 
fect upon himself at the time of his sympathetic communi- 
cation. 

Subjects can sometimes read the character and disease of 
a person by merely feeling of a handkerchief, or a lock of 
hair which belonged to that person. Such subjects are rare, 
but they are sometimes found. This seems incredible, and, 
when admitted to be true, is exceedingly wonderful ; but 
our wonder is doubtless principally caused by the novelty, 
rather, than the impossibility of the thing, for is it not 
equally incomprehensible that a dog can tell by putting his 






READING CHARACTER. 233 

nose within a few inches of a stone upon which twenty per- 
sons and animals of different kinds have trodden, and if his 
master, or a fox, or any favorite game has for an instant 
been standing upon the stone, the dog perceives it as he 
runs rapidly along over the stone. How can we explain 
this but by saying that there is an emanation of some kind 
from the animal which impregnated the stone. 

I once tried an experiment with a kitten about three 
months old, which I was certain had never seen a mouse. 
I brought a covered tub into the room, in which was a mouse, 
intending to let it out and see whether the kitten would 
catch it ; but before I opened the the tub the kitten gave 
the strongest evidences that she already knew its inhabitant. 
She evidently perceived it without sight or hearing, through 
the covered tub. Was this not reading character in a man- 
ner quite as wonderful as that of the Clairvoyant subject ? 
If you say that she smelt it, I might ask how by that 
means she knew that it was her natural prey ? 

Take a carrier pigeon a thousand miles blindfolded, by 
a circuitous route, and it will return by the most direct line 
that can be drawn. Did the pigeon smell home ? How 
then, if not by smell, does the bird know the way home? 
I have seen a company of about twelve persons, nearly all 
strangers to each other and to the subject, take their hand- 
kerchiefs and mix them together in a box and then present it to 
the blindfolded subject, who took the handkerchiefs all out, 
and as each owner presented his hand, the subject selected 
and returned his property. I have seen the same subject 
tell correctly by feeling the hands of persons whether they 
were of the same family. I have seen a ring handed to a 
subject, and the owner of the ring, who lived at a distance, 
described — the sex, health, residence and state of mind, 
and many other circumstances, with great accuracy, in 
most particulars ; though I never saw an instance in which 
there were no mistakes made in the description, if many 
11 



234 ETHEROPATHY. 

questions were asked. I can understand as well how a 
Clairvoyant subject can tell the character of the person by 
the emanations from the handkerchief, as I can how the dog 
can tell the character by a footstep, or a pigeon his home 
without even one sign or circumstance to afford a hint in 
any way that we know of. 

There are several ways in which the subject may get his 
information ; one is by sympathy with the person or persons 
present, who have in their own minds a knowledge of the 
person inquired about. Another way is by emanations 
from the ring or handkerchief. The ring being inducted by 
the Etherium of the owner, partially retains and communi- 
cates the motions which it has received, just as a magnet 
does, or a scented handkerchief. Another way is by Clair- 
voyance : the ring, if it has continued to emanate motions of 
Etherium all the way from the place where the owner re- 
sides to the residence of the subject, has made a path which 
may aid the Clairvoyant subject in finding him, and estab- 
lishing a communication with him so as to perceive his con- 
dition : just as we look around for any desired object, and 
when we at length discern it, we have established a com- 
munication by means of light with the object. It is in re- 
ality no more wonderful that the subject in his peculiar in- 
ducted condition, should perceive a hundred miles by Ethe- 
rium through opaque intervening bodies, than it is that we 
can perceive by means of light in the way we can through 
water, air, glass, &c. The difference is in the novelty of the 
method rather than the magnitude of the performance. 

The difficulty of conceiving such minute operations as 
those of the motions of Etherium in a ring, which can be 
communicated to a subject, and followed a hundred miles 
to connect with the owner — this difficulty is not greater 
than that of conceiving how eight millions of conscious 
beings can live and move in a space smaller than a mustard 
seed, or how the force of gravity can be propagated fifty 



DISCOVERIES. 235 

millions of times faster than light. The minute is doubtless 
as infinite as the grand ; and we commit as great an error 
by limiting nature to our capacities, as a microscopic insect 
would, who should suppose that the north side of the grain 
of earth on which he lives is the paradise and most import- 
ant part of the universe. 

It is with us as it is with the insect, — what seem to be 
the limits of nature are in truth but the limits of our own 
powers. The chain of causes and effects is infinite in length, 
but with our limited powers we can only perceive a few 
intermediate links. Both extremities of this chain are mys- 
teriously continued far beyond the limits of human concep- 
tion. Human knowledge in its greatest extent is necessa- 
rily cut short at both extremities. In all human reasoning 
we are forced, through ignorance and weakness, to begin by 
assuming first links or principles, and conclude by again con- 
fessing that we are at our wit's end. What we call first princi- 
ples are merely the first links that we can perceive ; and 
what we call a conclusion, is merely the last link which we 
can trace. All human knowledge begins and ends in igno- 
rance. 

DISCOVERIES IN PHRENOLOGY AND PHYSIOLOGY BY MEANS 
OF ETHEROPATHY. 

In the year 1837, I became acquainted with the late 
lamented Mr. Wing Russell of Syracuse, N. Y., who then 
resided in Buffalo ; I was at that time an unbeliever in 
mesmerism, and supposed that all who were engaged in ex- 
periments of this kind were unprincipled and dishonest men ; 
I therefore refused to witness any of their performances. 
But when I saw Mr. Russell, with his beautiful develop- 
ment of the moral and intellectual organs, I was forced to 
confess that phrenology was at fault if such a man was 
capable of so gross a deception. I requested an introduc- 
tion, and told him frankly my opinion. He replied, with 
benevolent mildness, that he did not blame me for my 



2u£> ETHEROPATHY. 

skepticism, as in my case he had no doubt 
my want of an opportunity to learn the truth, and that he 
would willingly show me some experiments. He accord- 
ingly operated in my presence, upon a young woman named 
Catherine, in such a manner as to produce entire conviction 
in my mind. 

I was at that time deeply engaged in the study of 
phrenology, and was preparing for the press a work upon 
the subject, containing many novel views. Catherine was 
Clairvoyant, and I determined to try an experiment which 
I thought would be a fair test of the truth of mesmerism, 
and might posssibly lead to some important discovery. 
There were many queries in my mind relative to the func- 
tions of certain parts of the brain, and it occurred to me that 
if she really could perceive, as she pretended that she could, 
perhaps I might learn something from her. 

One day when she was inducted so as to be in the Clair- 
voyant condition, I asked her to tell me the appearance of 
the brain. She was put into communication with Mr. 
John T. Hogoboom, who now resides in Nassau, Rensselaer 
county, N. Y., and she described his brain with most 
anatomical precision. The function of the corpus callosum 
being unknown to physiologists, I thought I would ask her 
if she could perceive what office it performed. After 
minutely describing the anterior, middle and posterior com- 
missures of the brain, and telling me that they were to con- 
nect the two hemispheres together so as to make them act 
as one, she said that the office of the collosum was different — 
that it did not connect the two halves, but if one half 
acquired more fluid than another, that the use of the cal- 
losum was to conduct the fluid across from one side of the 
brain to the other, in order to produce equilibrium. The 
moment she mentioned the fluid I interrupted her and 
asked her what fluid she meant, she answered " this" hold- 
ing out her fingers, and moving them as if she perceived 
something emanating from them " this is it," don't you see 






DISCOVERIES. £37 

it ? I then asked her concerning the location and the uses 
of several new Phreno-organs, which I supposed that I had 
discovered, and to my surprise she answered me without 
the least hesitation, and confirmed all my previous opinions, 
not even excepting those opinions which I had never men- 
tioned to any one, and which she could only have known 
by Clairvoyance. I was at the time in much doubt whether 
she really perceived the brain, and could see it operate and 
know the functions and forms of its different parts, or 
whether she acquired her ideas from sympathy with my 
own mind. 

I wrote down, soon after, a memorandum of the whole 
affair in a book, which I lost a few weeks since in my 
travels ; and which, I will thank the finder to return to me 
at my residence in Lansingburgh. As far as I know, this 
was the first attempt to learn the functions of the brain by 
means of mesmerism or Etheropathy ; and notwithstanding 
all the boasting of the pathetisers and neurologisers, I still 
think that this method is the only one which will be found 
of any real use. I mean, that Clairvoyance is the only in- 
strumentality by which we may hope to make discoveries 
through the agency of inducted subjects. But I must con- 
fess, that even this method is exceedingly discouraging, 
since I find that in those cases where I have had an op- 
portunity to know whether the subject was right or wrong 
in his pretensions to Clairvoyance, the actual result has 
been, that he was wrong more than half of the time. They 
are correct in examining the diseases of patients much 
oftener than in any other kind of Clairvoyance ; but in this 
they are perhaps aided in a considerable degree by sym- 
pathy. It may be, that there is something in the nature of 
the human body which is congenial to the Etherium of 
another human organization, and this may render it easier 
to establish a communication with them, so as to produce 
Sympathetic Clairvoyance than any other kind. On this 



238 ETHEROPATHY. 

subject there is much need of carefully observed and con- 
nected facts ; but it is unfortunate that most of those who 
are engaged in making experiments, are such visionary and 
credulous persons, that they lead us to error oftener than 
to truth. I shall never complain that people are skeptical 
on this subject so long as they do not refuse obstinately to 
examine it. Let us continue to observe, to examine, to 
theorise, to criticise, and skepticize,and turn, and overturn, 
until the truth, whose right it is, shall reign. 

In January, 1841, 1 gave several lectures in Albany, which, 
by permission of the legislature, were delivered in the 
capitol. At the close of one of these lectures, the Rev. Mr. 
J. M, Garfield came to me and stated that he had discovered 
that he could excite any organ of a mesmerized subject by 
merely putting his finger upon it ; and when I expressed a 
doubt of it, he invited me to visit him and witness the ex- 
periment for myself ; I thanked him, and promised to do so 
at the first convenient opportunity. Before I found time to 
call, the same experiments were announced, as performed by 
the Rev. La Roy Sunderland, and also by Dr. J. R. Bu- 
chanan. Several others claimed priority in this great dis- 
covery, both in Europe and in this country. There is no 
evidence that Sunderland nor Buchannan made their ex- 
periments before the spring of 1841 ; whereas, Mr Garfield 
made his known to me in the previous winter, so that if 
there is any honor in the priority, it belongs of right to 
Mr. Garfield : in justice to this gentleman, I will however 
state, that he claims no credit and seeks no notoriety in con- 
nection with the subject. 

So much did the announcement of these discoveries ex- 
cite interest, that a journal was started in this country, 
called u the Magnet ;" — and another in England, called 
" the Phreno-MagneV — and both are, I believe, still con- 
tinued — the principal object of which was to advocate and 
disseminate the " New Wonders." 



DISCOVERIES. 239 

Public attention was, however, directed to this sub- 
ject more especially by the operations of Dr. Buchanan, 
as reported by himself, and those who acted as committees 
appointed by audiences to examine and scrutinize his experi- 
ments in New- York, Albany 'and Boston. Dr. Buchanan 
came with letters of introduction from gentlemen of high 
standing to some of the first citizens of this region, 
and as he professed to have made very great discoveries 
in science, he was received cordially, and his subject 
taken in hand by gentlemen of such character as to com- 
mand the confidence of the public. These gentlemen pub- 
lished long and detailed reports which sanctioned all or 
nearly all that Dr. Buchanan had advanced. The commit- 
tees professed to merely report the facts which they knew 
and the experiments which they had witnessed, without 
expressing any opinion concerning them ; but the tenor and 
complimentary style of the reports, was such as to amount 
to an official endorsement of the whole concern. The edi- 
tor of the Democratic Review, the editor of the New-York 
Evening Po t, Dr. Forry, Rev. Mr. Pierpont, and others 
of the same high character, publicly expressed their con- 
viction of the general truth of Dr. Buchanan's doctrines ; 
and hundreds of others were and indeed are still of the 
opinion, that being founded upon experiment they could not 
be erroneous. What greatly added to their confidence, was 
the fact that they could repeat the experiments themselves, 
and with the most perfect success. How, then, could they 
be mistaken, when they were themselves the operators and 
the subjects were their most devoted friends ? Yet there 
is, in my mind, no doubt that the whole doctrine is a most 
egregious tissue of moonshine. 

The subjects being under a peculiar delusion, deceived 
themselves and their operators, and both combined to 
deceive the public, though neither intended to do so. If 
an insane man were to assert that he possessed the power 



240 ETHEROPATHY. 

to work miracles and pretended to actually perform them, 
I should not accuse him of wilful deception, though I would 
say that he deceived himself; and if a number of intelligent 
and respectable sane men, should affirm that they were sat- 
isfied of the reality of his performances and should so report 
to the public, I should be unwilling to accuse them of frau- 
dulent intentions, but I would certainly consider their report 
as discreditable to their intellectual characters and as cal- 
culated to do mischief by deceiving and misleading the cre- 
dulous portion of the community. 

Tn the case of Dr. Buchanan and the reports of his com- 
mittees, the mischief is the greater from the fact that they 
tend to destroy confidence in the science of phrenology. 
He professed to produce an entire revolution in this science 
— to add thousands of new organs — to change in a moment 
the location of organs which had already been established 
by years of patient observation. Some idea can be formed 
of the extent to which this mischievous delusion proceeded, 
from the fact that Mr. Fowler in a new edition of his work 
on phrenology introduced a long catalogue of new organs, 
which he pretends to have discovered by this means ; and) 
furthermore, he professes to have verified them by observa- 
tion and examination of crania ! 

Mr. Fowler has made such an immense number of ex- 
aminations of heads and is supposed by the multitude to 
understand the subject of phrenology so well, that it was 
thought he must certainly be capable of judging whether 
Dr. Buchanan or Sunderland was right or not ; and, there- 
fore, when he declares that he has tested the experiments 
fully, made important discoveries by means of them, and 
then proved and verified the discoveries by observing the 
developments of the head, he gives his highest testimony 
in favor of their truth, pledges his own professional charac- 
ter for skill and accuracy, and must stand or fall by the re- 
sult. But in the mean time, the public who have relied 



DISCOVERIES. 241 

upon him are misled by his unfounded assertions ; and the 
new organs which he has endorsed have vanished to the land 
of dreams from whence they originated. I can sincerely pity 
Mr. Fowler, for having, by his imprudent zeal and unintel- 
lectual ambition, placed himself in such an awkward pre- 
dicament ; but still it is my duty to apply the critical knife 
to the ugly excrescences which under the name of " newly 
discovered organs" he has attempted to engraft upon the 
beautiful tree of phrenology. 

Let it not be supposed that I am attempting to render the 
gentleman's scientific pretensions more ridiculous than is 
necessary to the development of truth — I hope that I am 
incapable of such injustice — I will, therefore, quote his own 
language, and let my reader judge whether it is possible by 
any comment of mine to make such ideas appear more con- 
temptible. He saj-s, — 

" No sooner had an application of Animal Magnetism been made 
to Phrenology, than I eagerly embraced it, not only to test the 
truth of magnetism in regard to the organs that were fully estab- 
lished, but also, when satisfied on this point, to see which of the 
doubtful organs stood being tested by magnetism, as well as whether 
new "ones could be discovered. Accordingly, the Rev. La Roy 
Sunderland, Dr. Sherwood and myself, instituted a series of Phre- 
no-Magnetic experiments, a summary of that portion of the results 
which relates to Phrenology is given. 

" Nothing has ever interested me more than these experiments, 
and 1 felt that I could not put another edition of this work to press, 
though it was stereotyped, without giving at least a summary of 
them. I will just add, that I have examined hundreds, probably 
thousands, of heads, since these discoveries were made, with the 
view of seeing whether examinations made by means of them, coin- 
cided with the characters, and 1 find they do without the least per- 
ceptible variation. These results, then, are : 

" 1. Each of the internal organs, such as the heart, lungs, stomach, 
liver, &c. &c, has an organ in the head, which is large, small, 
healthy, or disordered, &c, according to the condition of the organ 
11* 



242 ETHEROPATHY. 

in the body. These organs are situated behind the ears. Their 
precise position, however, I have not so fully ascertained as is de- 
sirable. 

" 2. All, or nearly all, the old organs, are found to be a group, or 
family of organs ; each analogous to the old one, but differing from 
each other in their shades of function. Thus, Combativeness is 
found to be divided into Physical Courage, Dissatisfaction and Re- 
sistance, or a contrary spirit ; Philoprogenitiveness, into Parental- 
Love, Filial-Love, and Love of Pets ; and so of most of the other 
organs. 

" 3. The location and function of all the old, or established organs 
are fully confirmed, not a single variation of importance in either 
having been observed. This will certainly prove highly gratifying 
to every lover of Phrenology, and does immortal credit to the mi- 
nuteness and extent of the observations of its founders, Gall and 
Spurzheim. 

"4. These experiments have revealed the cause and instruments, 
as well as the ' modus operandi' of Physiognomy, and show how 
it is that the activity of each organ imparts its peculiar expression 
to the face. Men have long known that all the passions, such as 
anger, love, cunning, pride, decision, kindness, piety, fear, reflec- 
tion, &c, were expressed in the countenance ; but no one has ever 
discovered the rationale of this, or shown how it was done. As all 
effects have their legitimate causes, and also their means, through 
the instrumentality of which they are effected, these expressions 
must have both their causes and instruments of expression,, These, we 
think, we have discovered. It appears, that every organ of the 
body and brain, has a certain magnetic connection with the face, or 
a place there for its indication. For the want of a better name, we 
will call these places and connections, the poles of the organs. 
Hence, when the organ is affected, that portion of the face is drawn 
so as to cause the face to express the feeling or sentiment of the 
organ excited. This connection existing between the organ and 
the pole, (for that is the term given to the termination of this con- 
nection, while the term conductor is applied to the channel by which 
this influence passes from the organ to the face,) is the same as 
that between the head and the hand, or any other part of the body, 



DISCOVERIES. 243 

by which the limbs, muscles, &c, involuntarily obey the command, 
and fulfil the desires of the mind and will. Thus, the poles of 
Self-Esteem are between the mouth and nose, about an inch and a 
quarter apart, and about an inch below the outer portion of the 
nose. Hence its action produces that curl of the upper lip which 
expresses scorn, contempt, pride and self-sufficiency. 

' ; The poles of Firmness are about half an inch apart, near the 
edge of the upper lip, and in the hollow between the nose and 
mouth. Hence, its action produces that compression of the upper 
lip which is said to indicate decision of character ; and hence, en- 
couraging another to be firm,, is expressed by the saying, < Now 
keep a stiff upper lip.'' The expression, ' That man carries a stiff 
upper lip,' is also in harmony with this supposed discovery. 

" The poles of the reasoning organs are just below the edge of 
the lower lip, and those of the moral organs, still farther down, 
between the lower lip and chin. 

" This harmonizes perfectly with the physiognomy of all great 
reasoners ; for, their under lip will be found to project and turn 
under, as it were, towards the teeth. Reasoners generally handle 
their under lip much, and whenever we think deeply, we naturally 
bite, or finger, or draw, or stick out the under lip. The coinci- 
dence between this discovery, or rather, between the position of 
these poles and that part of the face by which the functions of their 
organs are manifested, is most happy and striking ; and it will 
soon lead to a correct system of Physiognomy. 

" This brings us to the second point of interest connected with 
this portion of our subject, namely, that the poles of the organs are 
grouped in the face, much as the organs themselves are grouped in 
the head ; that is, the poles of those organs that are most likely to 
aid and accompany one another, are located near each other. Thus, 
it is a leading principle in Phrenology, that the moral and reason- 
ing faculties should co-operate in directing and governing the ac- 
tions of all the other faculties, and in controlling nearly all the 
doings of life ; and, in accordance with this principle, the poles of 
these organs are near neighbors, just as are the organs themselves. 

" This same principle of polarity, applies equally to all the organs 
of the body. Thus, the poles of the heart are in the chin, by ex- 
citing which the heart labors, and is raised to so violent a state of 
action as lo prevent the circulation of the blood, and to all appear- 



244 ETHEROPATHY. 

ance, would cause death in a few seconds. The poles of the 
lungs are in each cheek — just where the hectic flush appears in 
consumption. Hence, the inflammation of the lungs excites these 
poles, producing that rosy redness of the cheeks which indicates 
and accompanies lung-fever. In the name of philosophy, I ask, if 
this coincidence, does not indicate truth, and is not in harmony with 
nature ? And, beyond a doubt, this discovery, if founded in truth, 
will soon be employed in the cure of consumptive complaints, lung 
fevers, asthma, &c. The poles of the stomach are found to join 
Alimentiveness on its inner side. This shows how it is, that the 
excitement of the stomach by hunger, disease, &c, excites Alimen- 
tiveness, and through it Combativeness, Destructiveness, &c. &c. 
In other words, it shows why hunger produces a desire to eat, 
rather than to worship, or be kind — why the morbid and inflamed 
condition of the stomach, brought on by over-eating, (a disease 
called dyspepsy, liver-complaint, &c.,) produces a craving, insa- 
tiable appetite ; the inflammation of the stomach being felt at the 
poles adjoining Alimentiveness, and thereby exciting the organ 
and creating a desire for food ; and also why and how hunger pro- 
duces irritability, ill-temper, &c, rather than kindness, or penitence, 
&c. : these poles of the stomach being close by Combativeness and 
Destructiveness, which partake of the excitement of the stomach 
through these poles. All the other organs of the body are found 
to have their poles in the face, and in all probability, when dor- 
mant can be excited and cooled off when inflamed, merely by 
magnetising their poles, or by putting them to sleep." 

In my " New System of Phrenology, "-published in 1839, 
I introduced three new organs, viz. : Pneumaliveness^ Sana- 
tiveness and Flavor or Chemicality. These discoveries were 
at that time neglected, or unmercifully and contemptuously 
scouted, by Combe, Fowler, Caldwell, Buchanan and nearly 
all the leading phrenologists ; but it seems that when they 
found that the organs could be made to " speak for them- 
selves" by being excited by " touching," they spoke in fa- 
vor of those very organs which I had previously announced. 
Buchanan and Sunderland found an organ of extreme "phy- 
sical sensibility" exactly where I locate the organ of Sana- 



DISCOVERIES. 245 

tiveness, which feels pain ! Fowler, Buchanan and Sun- 
derland found the " pole of the lungs" precisely where I had 
located the organ of Pneumativeness — the propensity to 
breathe — which produces suffocation ! They also found the 
organs of taste and smell near where I located the organ of 
Flavor or Chemicality, which in my work I had defined to 
be " the perception of those chemical qualities of bodies 
which affect the senses of taste and smell !" The reader 
may perhaps suppose that these great discoverers, when 
they found that they had previously done me injustice, were 
prompt in acknowledgements and loud in their proclama- 
tions of my priority and correctness : my dear reader, let 
me assure you that on the contrary they have forgotten, or 
never knew, that such a work as that of mine was ever pub- 
lished ; and in this convenient state of forgetfulness they 
have come out and claimed the discovery of these same or- 
gans, which several years before I had announced in my 
work, and which had been made a matter of discussion in 
Albany, New-York, London and Paris — which Caldwell 
(Buchanan's preceptor) had criticised in Fowler's Journal, 
at Fowler's request. 

But it will be asked how it came to pass that these gen- 
tlemen by their experiments confirmed my observations, if 
all their experiments are based on moonshine. How hap- 
pened my observations to harmonize with their experi- 
ments ? I answer by referring you to the explanations 
which I have already made of the principles of Sympathy, 
Will, Clairvoyance and Credencive induction. The opera- 
tors, though unwilling to acknowledge it, were satisfied that 
I was right in regard to the organs which I had announced 
in my work. And, therefore, when they tried to excite 
them upon a very susceptible subject, (one who was pro- 
bably Clairvoyant,) they succeeded of course, and then in- 
stead of acknowledging their tardiness to do me justice, 
they claimed to have made the discovery themselves. 



246 ETHEROPATHY. 

But in reality the experiments do not confirm these or- 
gans ; their claim is based upon observation of external de- 
velopment and Phrenological harmony. The experiments 
would have confirmed any other organ, or any doctrine 
however absurd or visionary, as the records of their pre- 
tended discoveries abundantly prove. 

In regard to the poles of the stomach, and the magnetic 
connection of Alimentiveness with the stomach, &c, of 
which Fowler is so proud, I beg leave to refer you to my 
work on Phrenology, p. 162, in which in 1839 I announced 
this same doctrine in my explanation of the internal senses. 
The following is the language I then used : — 

" These are the nerves that convey impressions from the 
internal bodily organs, to their appropriate propensities in 
the brain. Thus Pneumativeness, Alimentiveness and 
Sanativeness, of the Ipseals ; and Amativeness and Paren- 
tiveness, of the Socials, are each capable of being excited 
to the highest degree, when the bodily organs to which they 
are severally related, are in want of their peculiar enjoy- 
ments. The secretion of milk in the breast, irritates certain 
nerves which convey the impressions to Parentiveness and 
rouse it to action. The secretion of the gastric juice, irri- 
tates certain nerves of the stomach which convey impres- 
sions to Alimentiveness ; in the same manner every organ 
when irritated in a peculiar manner, communicates an im- 
pression to the brain by means of some nerve, and rouses 
the appropriate propensity, to relieve disagreeable sensa- 
tions, or to continue agreeable ones. The nerves of the 
internal senses are so concealed from observation, that the 
most skillful anatomist cannot trace them with certainty ; 
this accounts for the fact, that so very few, besides profes- 
sional men, are acquainted even with the existence of such 
senses." 

If Mr. Fowler had merely stated that he had repeated the 
experiments of Sunderland and Buchanan, and had obtained 



DISCOVERIES. 247 

the same results, he would have deserved no more censure 
than the other endorsers of these monstrous absurdities ; but 
when he declares that he has by the examination of crania 
confirmed them, and thus established their truth, he takes 
upon himself a responsibility from which I fear that nothing 
but charity can relieve him. 

I regret the necessity of these remarks, but I owe a duty 
to the public which I am determined to discharge, and which 
will not permit me to pass in silence and indifference the 
false lights which are calculated to lead them so far astray. 



SECTION XIII. 



NEUROLOGY. 

The notions of Dr. Buchanan have received the sanction 
of Dr. Charles Caldwell of Kentucky, one of the most dis- 
tinguished phrenologists in the world, and one who ought to 
have been the first to perceive and expose their fallacy. 
He lends the influence of his venerable name to give popu- 
larity to this new " Neurology" — a granite pillar to sustain 
a bubble. This is to me more astonishing than any of the 
new discoveries. The following extracts from a letter of 
Dr. Caldwell to the Editor of the Edinburgh Phrenological 
Journal defines his position : 

" Louisville, April 5, 1842. 

" My Dear Sir : — The paper from the pen of Dr. Buchan- 
an, which this letter accompanies, is transmitted to you in 
the belief that it will so far experience from you a favor- 
able reception, as to be admitted to a place in the Phreno- 
logical Journal which you so ably conduct. 

" If I mistake not its character, the paper contains in itself 
an amount of curious, interesting and important matter, 
abundantly sufficient to serve as its ready and welcome 
passport into any phrenological depository of the day. 

" In behalf of its solidity and merit, however, permit me to 
observe, that I have myself witnessed experimental verifi- 
cations of no inconsiderable number of the striking positions 
and allegations which it contains. I have also performed 
in person a sufficient number of them to serve me as an 
earnest of the truth of many others. 



NEUROLOGY. 249 

" This is true, more especially, as regards the Mesmeric 
excitement of the separate organs of the brain, and the call- 
ing forth, in an augmented degree, of their natural language 
and action. 

" I apply to the excitement the term " Mesmeric," be- 
cause the mode of its production is analagous to, and its 
ruling principle no doubt identical with those of the pro- 
duction of common Mesmeric phenomena. The following 
experiments I have repeatedly performed, since my last re- 
turn from Europe, without encountering a single failure. 

" Having thrown my subject into a complete Mesmeric 
condition, I have so excited the organs of Combativeness 
and Destructiveness, even in ladies of delicacy and refine- 
ment, whose natural feelings toward myself were friendly 
and kind, as to induce them to give me blows, as severe as 
they could inflict. I have then excited their Benevolence, 
willing into their presence some object of distress, and 
drawn from them an abundant effusion of tears — their 
Veneration, and they have become immediately devout, 
reverential and adoring — their Hope, and their thoughts 
have become buoyant, elastic and brilliant, and all their 
anticipations a foretaste of felicity to be afterwards enjoyed 
by them — their Cautiousness, and they have sunk into 
victims of apprehension and gloom — their Self-Esteem, and 
so swollen was their pride, that they would hardly have 
submitted to the companionship of an Empress — their 
Mirthfulness, and their thoughts were cheering, sprightly 
and playful, and all their fancies bright and mirth-born — 
their Number, and their instinct of Calculation would be- 
come insatiable. A lady, in that condition, counted several 
generations of canary birds which she had reared, all the 
buttons on my coat and waistcoat, and on being willed into 
my drawing room, all the chairs, tables and pictures con- 
tained in the apartment. I next excited her Order, whose 
development was large, and in that state, willing her into 
my study, she gave me an earnest rebuke on account of the 
disorder and confusion which prevailed in it, and was quite 
exceptionable to her. 

u Thus have I, on several occasions, run through a majority 
of the larger and more powerful cerebral organs, rousing 
them to strong action and expression, and in this way 
settled, in my own opinion much more definitely and in- 



250 NEUROLOGY. 

dubitably, their positive locality, than can be effected by 
any other mode of proceeding with which I am acquainted. 

" Among the experiments of Dr. Buchanan, which I wit- 
nessed, a very interesting and important one consisted in his 
augmentation or diminution at pleasure of muscular strength 
in any given part of the body. In the case of a youth, con- 
valescent from severe disease, the Doctor, in the presence 
of several persons, I being one of them, first augmented and 
then diminished the strength of the arms, in a degree that 
was obvious and even striking to the spectators. I have 
also been a witness, when he has, by a similar process, 
changed very materially the condition of the digestive 
organs." 

It seems that Dr. Elliotson of London has admitted the 
truth of Dr. Buchanan's head-touching doctrines : and so, in- 
deed, have many other distinguished Phrenologists and Phy- 
sicians of Great Britain. The reader must therefore ac- 
knowledge that however absurd and ridiculous may be the 
doctrines which have been advanced by Dr. Buchanan and 
others of the same faith, the high character of the persons 
who have endorsed them give them a claim to a serious 
and formal notice and refutation. 

However much they may deserve ridicule, and however 
naturally they may excite our contempt, this alone will 
never dislodge them from the public mind as long as they are 
defended by such renowned and respectable champions. 
The great majority, even of educated persons, do not take 
the trouble to examine such matters for themselves. They 
presume that those whose peculiar vocation it is, will exam- 
ine and report correctly upon any question which especially 
concerns their profession ; and if some commit important er- 
rors it is, expected that others will oppose them, not with 
ridicule and sarcasm merely, but also with experiment, fact 
and argument.* 

* In England, the credit of having discovered the head-touching 
princ iples, is supposed to belong not to Dr. Buchanan nor to Mr. 
Sunderland, but to Mr. Spencer T. Hall, an English gentleman. 



NEUROLOOY. 251 

The discoveries of Dr. Buchanan and all his pretensions 
depend upon the proposition, that by touching a definite spot 
on the head we can learn the function of that portion of the 
brain which is immediately beneath the spot touched. 

This is his " mode of operation" as it has been " display- 
ed publicly" both by himself and his disciples. By this 
simple process he claims to have made discoveries of such 
magnitude and importance as to overshadow all the discov- 
eries of all other men since the flood. But I shall be suspect- 
ed of misrepresenting him ; let me therefore give his own 
language extracted from " Sketches of Buchanan's discov- 
eries in Neurology," published by himself. In the intro- 
duction it is said that — " The following sketches will, it is 
hoped, give a just conception of its character and import- 
ance." 

He then proceeds to give an account which of itself is 
sufficient to show that he is better fitted by nature for a 
poet than a philosopher, and calculated to excel in works 
of fiction, rather than of fact and experiment. Nothing can 
exceed the extravagant and bombastic style in which he an- 
nounces his discoveries. It reminds us of an oriental pro- 
clamation, in which notice is given to the whole world that 
the Emperor is eating his dinner, and that when he has fin- 
ished, all the other great ones of the earth may eat theirs. 
He very coolly takes his place at the head of the immortal 
band of sages and philosophers that the world has produced, 
and proclaims himself far in advance of them all. At a sin- 
gle leap he reaches the very summit of the temple of fame, 
claims a whole box to himself, and with enviable self-com- 
placency remarks that being "placed in so authoritative posi- 
tion awakens many peculiar emotions." 

It may seem cruel, but I am really under the disagreeable 
necessity of informing the gentleman that he has " got into 
the wrong box." I expect that he will object and refer me 
to his committees' reports — to Dr. Caldwell, Dr. Elliotson, 



252 NEUROLOGY. 

Dr. Dodds, Dr. Forry, Rev. Mr. Pierpont, Mr. Bryant, Mr. 
O'Sullivan and a host of other persons of equal rank, who 
have endorsed his ticket, and consented to allow him to take 
some " shorter road to the arcana of cerebral physiology." 

But I would most respectfully inform all those gentlemen 
that no man can be permitted to occupy such " an authori- 
tative position," who avoids, as Dr. Buchanan says he does 
(to use his own words) " the labor of theorizing observation, 
induction and philosophical combination." 

The book of Dr. Buchanan to which I have referred, con- 
tains the following interesting extracts, upon which I shall 
take the liberty to make a few comments. 

Sketches of Buchanan's Discoveries. 

" For some months past I have been engaged, during the inter- 
vals of professional engagements, in an experimental investigation 
of the functions of the brain, in which I have been so singularly 
fortunate, that in the course of a single month, I have been able 
to ascertain more of its true physiology than has heretofore been 
acquired by all the labors of all the Physiologists and Pathologists 
who have ever been engaged in observing and making experiments 
to ascertain the nature and locality of its various functions." 

This can only be met by a direct contradiction. 

I have been engaged for many years in the investigation 
of Phreno-physiology, with a view to improve and perfect 
the science. And I have thoroughly examined the preten- 
sions of Dr. B. ; and I assure the public that he has not 
added a single item to our knowledge. 

" While the ink is yet wet, with which I record this sentence, 1 
cannot repress the feeling of strangeness with which I view so 
comprehensive an assertion, when placed in writing, although I 
know it to be but a naked statement of a portion of the facts, 
which I have ascertained by the testimony of my own senses, and 
which have been witnessed by many others. These facts, and 
the experiments in which I have been engaged, have lost a portion 



NEUROLOGY. 253 

of their novelty and wonder with me by frequent repetition ; but 
to suppose that results of such magnitude have been so speedily 
and correctly attained, and that the promulgation of such discover- 
ies has devolved upon one whom neither years nor official honors 
have placed in so authoritative a position, awakens many peculiar 
emotions. 

" Fortunately, it requires neither rank nor title, nor persuasive 
eloquence, to secure the reception of these truths, The experi- 
ments by which they have been tested can easily be repeated, and 
cannot leave a doubt upon the mind of any, nor do they suggest 
any thing for debate. Their reception must be instantaneous. 

" I am thus prepared to teach the true physiology of the brain ; 
to correct the errors that have heretofore been made, and to give 
the function of its smallest organs with a precision which it would 
once have been deemed chimerical to expect. Yet every propo- 
sition which I advance shall be accompanied, on the spot, by ex- 
perimental demonstration, as palpable and satisfactory, even as 
those of chemistry." 

I assert, on the contrary, without hesitation, that the 
falsity of every new proposition which he has advanced 
can be shown by similar experiments. 

'■' Yet how, asks the wondering and incredulous metaphysician, 
can this possibly be accomplished ? How can the sublime science 
of mind be degraded, into a mere subject of physiological experi- 
ment, and an hour's observation become the substitute for heavy 
folios of reasoning ? 

" By the simplest means imaginable. It is in my power to ex- 
cite, in a few moments, any portion of the brain, either large or 
small ; to put that portion into full and vigorous action as an 
efficient portion of the character of the person upon whom I oper- 
ate, and then, at will, suspend its action, and excite the action of 
its antagonist organ, or of any other organ, or group of organs, 
that I choose to bring into play." 

I deny that he can do this in any other way than that in 
which it was done by the mesmerizers, " long time ago," 
and had he been well acquainted with mesmerism and 



254 NEUROLOGY. 

Phrenology, as I have been in the habit of teaching them, 
he would not have deceived himself with these egotistical 
delusions. 



" The idea which led to these developments, though long im- 
pressed upon my mind, like many other plans to which I hoped a 
consummation, has but lately been carried into effect Three years 
since I had made important progress in craniological science, and 
traced the outlines of « the Pathognomic System of Phrenology ;' 

" I had printed a prospectus and obtained subscribers to this work, 
to be issued in five volumes, embracing the whole of the sciences 
of Phrenology and Pathognomy. But discovering that, by the 
plan I was pursuing, a lifetime would scarcely be sufficient to re- 
organize the science, and to test every proposition, I determined, 
if possible, to find some shorter road to the arcana of Cerebral 
Physiology. The labor of theorizing, observation, induction and 
philosophical combination, might form a system, indeed, of toler- 
able accuracy ; but the lifetime expended in such labors, I foresaw, 
would be poorly rewarded, as the moral and intellectual organs in 
ninety-nine-hundreths of the human race, are too feeble to per- 
ceive, or to appreciate, the truth of any new discovery, The 
principles thus discovered, would have to undergo the tedious or- 
deal of criticism and experiment, by incompetent as well as com- 
petent men, before they could receive the proper credit, 1 could 
not consent to spend a life in the labor of untying a Gordian knot 
for the benefit of posterity, but determined to find the sword with 
which I could cleave it open at once, and bring the most recondite 
truths palpably before the public eye. 

" In plainer terms, I determined to ascertain the functions of the 
brain in some simple and direct manner, which would place our 
knowledge of its functions upon a par with the other portions of 
experimental physiology. To do this, I determined to excite the 
different portions of the brain by a galvanic or galvanoid fluid, 
and calling them separately into action, to watch the resultant 
phenomena ; or, by exciting them in myself, to enjoy at once, a 
perfect consciousness of the nature of each faculty and its organ. 
In this attempt, I have met with even a more glorious success 
than I had ever anticipated. 



NEUROLOGY. 255 

" I have discovered the means of exciting, at will, any portion 
of the brain — any organ, or any number of organs, and of retard- 
ing or suspending their action. Even the small perceptive con- 
volutions, on the super-orbitar plate, have proved to be completely 
under my control ; and I have many times excited the organ of 
Form or Calculation, Color or Order, without allowing the excite- 
ment to extend beyond the organ which I wished to call into 
play. In the most susceptible subjects, I find that I have been 
able to assume the entire control of their characters, and operate 
upon their minds or bodies in the most fantastic manner that 
caprice could suggest. 

" I say nothing of my mode of operation at present, as that will 
be displayed hereafter publicly — and the experiments, unless con- 
ducted by persons who are well acquainted with Neurology, may 
be managed so as to injure, instead of benefiting, the health." 

By publishing to the w r orld that he could excite the sep- 
arate portions of the brain, and inducing gentlemen of re- 
spectability to endorse the statement, while he " said noth- 
ing of his mode of operation," many who had not seen his 
experiments, were led to believe that he had actually made 
a new - and important discovery. I confess this w r as my own 
case ; I wrote a letter to Dr. Caldwell, to make inquiries 
concerning the reality of the discovery, and received a very 
kind reply, in which I was assured that " some important 
discoveries in Neurology" had actually been made, and that 
the great discoverer would soon honor our region with 
a visit, when we should have an opportunity to judge for 
ourselves. In the mean time, Mr. Sunderland, a Metho- 
dist clergyman of N. Y. City, claimed to have made essen- 
tially the same discovery : that is, he claimed to have dis- 
covered the means of exciting the mental organs by touch- 
ing the head with his finger. But as Dr. B. said nothing 
of his mode of operation, it was supposed that there was 
something peculiar in his method to distinguish it from the 
method of Mr. Sunderland. When Dr. B. arrived in N. Y. 
he " displayed publicly" his mode of operation, and it was 



25G NEUROLOGY. 

found to be essentially the same as that of Mr. Sunderland. 
His mode of operation was to take a person who was sus- 
ceptible of mesmeric or Etheropathic induction and having 
first ascertained his susceptibility, he put the extremity of 
one finger upon his temple and held it there until the sub- 
ject was asleep — this part of the head was therefore called 
the organ of Somnolence. By touching in a similar manner 
another part of the head he waked the subject up. He then 
proceeded with his other experiments in the same manner. 
By touching behind the ear he excited (so he pretended) 
the organ of Felony \ a little higher, the organ of Profanity ; 
still higher the organ of Acquisitiveness ; higher yet the or- 
gan of Sleep; above and behind the organ of Sleep (near Ad- 
hesiveness) he ''touched off" the organ of Ignorance , the 
organ of Stupidity and the organ of Imbecility. Sometimes he 
excitedthemby Sympathy, that is, if instead of the Dr. touch- 
ing the head of the subject, the subject touched the head of 
the Dr. the same effects were produced; for instance, if the 
subject touched the organ of Ignorance on the Dr's head, the 
subject was instantly inspired with " a fellow feeling," and 
became ignorant, stupid, &c. I first saw the experiments 
repeated at Albany, by a most enthusiastic friend of Dr. B. — 
a gentleman who is immeasurably superior to him in saga- 
city; and upon a subject, a Lady of good character and family, 
of exceeding susceptibility, and of uncommon natural and 
acquired endowments. Every experiment succeeded ad- 
mirably. The organs were excited and the new discove- 
ries demonstrated and illustrated in such a manner as to 
convince all — but myself — that the organs of Insanity, Idio- 
cy, Dreaming, Immortality, Childishness, Felony and numer- 
ous other " airy nothings," have a a local habitation and a 
name." I said but little in opposition at the time, except 
to a few confidential friends, and from them I received no 
sympathy. From my acquaintance with phrenology, I 
knew that they were wrong in respect to the pretended new 



NEUROLOGY. 257 

organs, bat I was not satisfied that the whole was a delu- 
sion until I had myself repeated the experiments, and had 
discovered the source of error in the nature of Credencive- 
ness, Will and Clairvoyance, which Buchanan, Sunderland, 
Caldwell, Elliotson and others had overlooked. I at length 
found that no reliance whatever, could be placed upon the 
experiments made by touching the head — that in fact the 
touching had nothing to do with the effect produced, and 
consequently nothing can be learned concerning the function 
of the part touched, by these experiments. If any thing can 
be learned, it must be by Clairvoyance, and even this is 
more uncertain than a lottery. Again he says, — 

" The question then naturally arises, since the functions of every 
organ have been ascertained with this precision, and Cerebral 
Physiology has become on a sudden a science of demonstrable 
accuracy, whether the existing science of Phrenology is overturn- 
ed or established by the new discoveries. The experienced and 
philosophic practical Phrenologist will easily anticipate the ans- 
wer. Knowing the unimpeachable ^truth of the body of the 
science ; he knows too, that it is still an inaccurate or imperfect 
doctrine, when we survey the mass of its details. He finds him- 
self occasionally liable to practical errors, for which he is at a loss 
to account, and of which he can dispose only, by using the old 
phrase, so often sophistically applied, ' exceptio probat regulum.' 

"Asa practical Phrenologist, having wandered farther from the 
doctrines of Gall and Spurzheim than any other zealous cultivator 
of craniolozy, I had to some extent abandoned the use of the es- 
tablished phrenological nomenclature. Believing that the doctrines 
of Phrenology would be for some time a matter of debate, and 
deeming it rather premature to determine the precise functions of 
organs by their names, I used and even taught my students the 
anatomical nomenclature, deeming it more convenient that the 
name should express the fixed anatomical position of the organ, 
than that it should express the unfixed and not very precise doc- 
trine of their functions. Seeking the truth boldly, regardless of all 
'ems, 1 had become distrustful of the established doctrine, and 
while engaged in making additions to it, was by no means back- 
12 



258 NEUROLOGY. 

ward in rejecting every thing which did not stand the test of sound 
reasoning or of craniological observation. 

" When I found the means of testing all the principles of Phre- 
nology, by inspiring the organs to speak for themselves, I was of 
course eager to learn what was their decision upon the doctrines 
of Gall and Spurzheim, and what was to be the fate of my own 
craniological doctrines. 

" The result has been singularly happy : while the truth of my 
own views in every essential point has been well maintained, it 
has been done at as little expense as possible to the existing system. 
In some instances in which my doctrine departed materially from 
the doctrine of Gall and Spurzheim, decisive experiments have 
presented a compromise, sustaining as far as practicable the truth 
of both; showing that the principles of each, though apparently 
contradictory, were really just and harmonious, but limited views 
of the same subject, which a more extensive survey combines into 
one picture." 

We here get the key to many of the pretended discov- 
eries of Dr. Buchanan. It seems that he had been for some 
time dreaming and scheming upon a new system of notions, 
and being naturally of a romantic and visionary turn of mind 
he had formed some highly erroneous conceptions of phre- 
nology and physiology ; consequently when he made (as 
he supposed) the organs speak for themselves, he made them 
speak his own doctrines, their language was but an echo of 
his thoughts, and their testimony was of course in favor of 
his " own craniological doctrines ;" like another innocent 
youth whom we read of in ancient classic story, he fell des- 
perately in love with his own shadow. He says, — 

" I have been in the habit of teaching the phrenological doctrine, 
that every portion of the brain sustained a particular relation to 
the body, by means of which the circulation and all the phenom- 
ena of life are modified through the cerebral agency ; that the 
paramount influence of the brain gave to the body its peculiar 
growth, form and temperament; that every portion of Jhe body 
had a specific relation to some part of the brain, upon which it 



NEUROLOGY. 259 

was dependent for innervation, and "with which it sympathized in 
health, disease and excitement. I had made some progress in 
tracing out the laws of this innervation, and establishing the rela- 
tion that existed between each portion of the body and each portion 
of the brain — thus ascertaining to what classes of disease partic- 
ular forms of the brain made us liable, or with what portion of 
the brain and what kind of cerebral excitement each disease was 
connected — in other words, making a phrenological classification 
of disease, and of all the phenomena of life. 

" Having done this, it became my duty when I found the brain 
under my control, to proceed directly to testing its influences upon 
the body, and its power of modifying the phenomena of disease, 
in a curative or an injurious manner. In this, my expectations 
have been fully and exactly realized. 

" I have found it perfectly practicable to operate upon the various 
portions of the body, and stimulate or modify their functions by 
the appropriate action upon the cerebral sources of their inner- 
vation." 

It can easily be demonstrated, and often has been, that 
the circulation and the motions of the heart are independent 
of the brain, [See Le Galois on Life, with Cuvier's report,] 
for the head can be cut off and thrown away, and yet the 
heart can beat and the blood circulate for an hour. But 
Dr. B. did not know this ; for it seems that he had acquired 
the belief that the heart is dependent upon the brain for its 
growth and innervation. He vras not aware that deformed 
creatures have been born with perfect bodies yet destitute 
of brain : or if he had heard of these things he disregarded 
them and formed these unfounded opinions. Under these 
circumstances he touched the heads of his subjects and 
inquired, like Macbeth among the witches, or a devotee 
at the Delphian shrine, what was to be the fate of his favo- 
rite doctrines ; and when echo returned him his own views 
in reply, he remarks with delightful self-complacency — u In 
this my expectations have been fully and exactly realized." 
Trie key to his error is found in the fact that the same ef- 



2G0 NEUROLOGY. 

fects may be produced by touching different parts or by not 
touching at all. He continues, — 

" 1 would offer a word in reference to the wonderful ' art, 
science, or imposture,' which has made so much noise, and ex- 
cited so much credulity, opposition, debate and criticism, under 
the title of Animal Magnetism. 

" I have proven by experiment, that most of the phenomena 
which have been reported by the magnetists, are real occurrences, 
and by no means incompatible with the known laws of Physiology, 
although they derive their explanation from principles which 
Physiologists have not yet known, and which the magnetists do 
not appear to have properly sought. Animal Magnetism has been 
too much of a display of wonderful results, and there has not been 
a sufficient and efficient investigation of the laws, by which those 
results have been produced. To such an investigation, I have 
directed my efforts, guided by an improved system of Cerebral 
Physiology, and I have found no very formidable difficulty. By 
means of the Pathognomic laws and Phrenological principles, which 
I have established, I flatter myself that the sunlight of science will 
soon rest upon this mysterious terra incognita, in which the usual 
laws of Physiology and Psychology, seem at present mingled, 
confounded and lost." 

Among all those who have made a " display of w x onderful 
results," no one has equaled this very person who is thus 
rebuking the magnetists, and surely no one has done as 
much as he to produce confusion, to shut out the sunlight 
of science from this mysterious incognita, and to mislead the 
sincere inquirer. He proceeds, — 

" The term * Neurology,' by signifying the science of the 
nervous system, is competent to embrace all its functions, as well 
the mental as the corporeal, and is therefore the proper term for 
that comprehensive science, of which Craniology, Phrenology 
and Physiology, are constituent portions." 

" Neurology" is a term sufficiently comprehensive to in- 
clude all the phenomena of the nervous system, and for this 



NEUROLOGY. 261 

purpose has been long used, but it cannot be made to em- 
brace all the phenomena of mesmerism or Etheropathy, for 
the motion of Etherium exists independently of the nervous 
system. It is related to every thing, — light, heat, oxygen, 
food, blood, &c. It produces effects upon the nerves, and 
is conducted by them, but it often is transmitted without 
the aid of nerves ; by will, for instance, it passes from one 
end of a room to another without being dependent upon 
nerves for its transmission through the space which inter- 
venes between the operator and the subject. I consider 
nerves merely conductors of etherean motions. Again, — 

" At first, gentlemen who may engage in illustrating Neurology, 
will be disappointed in some of their experiments, because of the 
inaccuracy of the existing science of Phrenology One-third 
of the organs are inaccurately located ; and a large number (about 
two-thirds of my catalogue) are not known or described in any 
treatise on the science. 

" After the publication of my System of Neurology, and the 
illustrative bust, experiments may be made with perfect certainty 
as to the results. 

" There will be failures, also, for another reason : most of the 
functions displayed by the excitement of the different organs are 
compound. The [operations will therefore sometimes display a 
compound function, and sometimes a simple function. The results 
will thus become contradictory, until the operators understand the 
laws of antagonism and co-operation, which are almost entirely 
unknown to Phrenologists at present," 

I have already spoken of the new organs mentioned in 
my work, and which Dr. B. re-discovered, and in another 
place I shall speak of his " laws of antagonism and co- 
operation." He says — 

" "When discoveries of such magnitude came into my possession 
I felt eager to establish them immediately, by crossing the Atlan 
tic and making them known in' London and Paris. The propriety 
however, of perfecting my discoveries, as far as possible, has in 
duced me to remain thus long quietly engaged in their prosecution 
and in preparing for the press an exposition of what I have done.' 



282 NEUROLOGY. 

" 1 would remark, that I have not been engaged in making ex- 
periments upon subjects in a magnetic or somnolent condition, but 
solely upon persons in their natural condition." 

Here is another most egregious mistake. Dr. Buchanan 
labors under the delusion that his subjects are in the natural 
or normal condition. I hope I have sufficiently explained 
this matter in another place. Because the subjects are not 
and never have been put to sleep by the inductive process, 
he thinks that they are in " their natural condition." He 
might as well say that the inmates of bedlam are in their 
natural condition, because they are not asleep. One of the 
best subjects which he had when in this vicinity, and who 
is particularly referred to in one of his most laudatory re- 
ports, is my intimate friend, a gentleman of veracity and 
talent. I had operated upon him repeatedly before Dr. B. 
saw him, and I know that when in his natural condition he 
is a prudent and intellectual man, but w T hen inducted he be- 
comes deranged in his functions in proportion to the degree 
of induction. Now I can take this subject and operate upon 
him in such a way as to contradict all the doctrines of 
Buchanan, and I pledge myself to do so on any proper 
occasion. I can find a hundred subjects who seem to be 
perfectly rational — who are awake and converse and act as 
usual, but if I take a handkerchief, and assert that it is a 
snake, they will all believe it, and make oath of its truth. 
Now will Dr. B. say that these subjects are in their natural 
condition ? Again, — 

" Disregarding the very meaning of the word Neurology, and 
probably unacquainted with its derivation, ignorant scoffers would 
repeat that this science was nothing more than the old story of 
Animal Magnetism, Clairvoyance, &c. ; others would assert that 
it was totally unlike — both confounding the science of Neurology 
with the experiments by which it was demonstrated. Some, by a 
singular combination of skepticism and credulity, were even led to 
adopt the laughable theory, that I produced the wonderful results 



NEUROLOGY. 263 

of my experiments by the mere power of my will, controlling every 
one whom J approached ! and compelling them to feel such emo- 
tions as I willed them to experience ! !" 

He seems particularly sensitive on this subject, and takes 
a great deal of pains to prevent us from thinking that his 
"Neurology" is the same thing as "the old story of 
Animal Magnetism, Clairvoyance, &c." He has so indus- 
triously circulated the assertion that Neurology is something 
different from Animal Magnetism, that people generally 
suppose it to be true. Now the fact really is that what 
Buchanan calls Neurology is the illegitimate offspring of 
this same Animal Magnetism which it " repudiates." It 
was begotten by the union of Animal Magnetism with cre- 
dulity ; and though at present it pretends to be ashamed of 
its father, there is much more reason for Magnetism to 
blush at the deformity and the indiscretion of its ill begotten 
bantling. These remarks will apply with equal truth to 
Sunderland's " Pathetism," and Braid's " Hypnotism" — and 
I will venture to predict that they w 7 ill all three be left to 
suffer a miserable death, from the neglect of the respectable 
dupes who have hitherto officiated as their god-parents. 
He says, — 

" Such notions being afloat, I have been compelled to express 
myself frequently, in public and in private, in something like the 
following manner : 

'•' Neurology is a comprehensive science, including all the phe- 
nomena of mind and body. The Animal Magnetists, are engaged 
in cultivating one department of this science, which is rich in 
wonders. Their results, although they seem incredible, are 
established by unanswerable testimony ; and, therefore, must be 
received. The experiments which 1 am performing, are different, 
as they are simply designed to illustrate the ordinary or normal 
functions, and the pathology of the human mind and body. My 
operations aim at utility, by explaining the machinery of life, and 
the powers of each organ : those of Animal Magnetism, develop 
extraordinary or transcendental phenomena, by the joint influence 



264 NEUROLOGY. 

of two or more individuals. The phenomena thus developed are 
mysterious and wonderful ; and, indeed, we seem in a fair way to 
realize through these operations, that « truth is strange — stranger 
than fiction.' " 

The utter inconsistency of these remarks may be inferred 
from the fact that he claims as " ordinary or normal func- 
tions," such manifestations as " insanity," " stupidity," 
" imbecility," " baseness," " felony," &c. (See his cata- 
logue of newly discovered organs.) 

The following extract from the same book was originally 
published by one of Dr. B.'s pupils and shows how they 
understood the matter : — 

" Some of our brother editors, as well as many with whom we 
have conversed, even here, do not seem to know what Neurology 
is. No longer since than Wednesday evening, a medical stndent 
informed us that he had all along regarded it as none other than 
the veritable science of Mesmerism, or Animal Magnetism ; and 
was quite astonished on learning that Neurology was merely the 
Physiology of the Nervous System ; and that the singular experi- 
ments in which Dr. B. has been engaged, are designed to show the 
functions of every part of the nervous mass contained in the head, 
by exciting that part, by external irritation, in such a manner, as 
to cause a distinct manifestation of its peculiar properties, whether 
mental or corporeal. 

" Those who recognize Phrenology as a true science ; (and who 
does not ?) who understand the mysterious operation of the mind, 
upon the whole nervous system, through the medium of its organ, 
or mass of organs, the brain ; and who are aware how readily the 
different organs of the brain can be recognized, classified, and their 
volume defined by exterior examination, can, with readiness, com- 
prehend the whole secret of Dr. Buchanan's operations ; which 
consists merely, in exciting any organ, or combination of organs, 
to greater activity, by operating with the ringers, upon that por- 
tion of the skull under which they are located. Hunger, thirst, 
anger, benevolence, vision, muscular strength, hearing, &c, may 
be readily excited in this way. Mesmerism, with its mysterious 
manipulations, its passes, its clairvoyant conditions, its magnetic 



NEUROLOGY. 265 

states and transmissions of mental power and' ubiquity, all opera- 
ting independent of contact, no more resemble the science of Neu- 
rology, as defined and exemplified by Dr. B., than the practice of 
the faith doctors does the regular practice of medicine. 

" "When our neighbors come to give the matter a ' sober second 
thought,' and witness a tithe of the experiments which Dr. B. has 
made in Louisville, in the presence of hundreds, and upon all 
classes of subjects, we shall expect to find them more warm in 
their commendations than we have been. We- are a skeptical 
people in Louisville, in matters of this kind, and yield to nothing 
which is not sustained by unquestionable philosophical demon- 
strations, heard and seen by ourselves." 

" The essence of my discoveries consists in determining the seat 
of all the functions of the nervous system, whether they relate to 
mind or body. For instance, I determine with equal certainty the 
sources of the passion of anger ; the sentiment of benevolence ; 
the faculty of vision ; the power of secreting bile ; the power of 
secreting the gastric juice ; or the power of using the muscles in 
locomotion. 

" Every passion or emotion that man can feel ; every intellect- 
ual faculty that he can exercise, and every function that is per- 
formed in any part of his body, has a legitimate origin in some 
portion of his nervous system. The result of my investigations 
shows that all of these localities can'be ascertained ; and such has 
been my progress, that but few important principles have been left 
for future discovery." 

How r very grateful ought we to be to Dr. Buchanan for 
discovering everything in physiology, and leaving nothing 
more for us common mortals to do but to feast upon the 
fruits of his labors ! What if he should take it into his head 
to turn his mind to other departments of science, with a de- 
termination "not to spend a life in the labor of untying a 
Gordian Knot for the benefit of posterity, but to find the 
sword with which to cleave it open at once and bring the 
most recondite truths palpably before the public eye !" 
There would be an end to the race of philosophers, for their 
" occupation would be gone." He proceeds, — 
12* 



266 NEUROLOGY. 

" Since this publication, my experience has daily given me new 
facts and principles. To avoid all further detail, I would simply 
remark, that I have found the key to the whole mechanism of 
man ; and that I will undertake, under proper circumstances, to 
execute any command that you may see fit to lay upon me, for 
the purpose of modifying the state of either mind or body ; pro- 
ving that we may lay bare the deepest mysteries of Nature, and 
that we are now in the possession of knowledge which must be 
of invaluable utility to the human race." 

And " I will undertake, under proper circumstances, to 
execute" everything which Buchanan does without contact 
or touching the head at all, and without touching the body 
at all ; and I will undertake to show that all these things, 
or others like them, were known and practiced by mesmer- 
izers and magnetisers before Buchanan or Sunderland were 
heard of. Again, — 

" The number of independent functions, which may thus be de- 
monstrated by experiment, with an adequately susceptible person, 
amounts to 166 ; but, for convenience of instruction, I demonstrate 
usually not more than one hundred. With a subject of large 
brain, well cultivated mind, and high susceptibility. I have no 
doubt that even as many as two hundred might be shown." 

This was written April 5, 1842. I have before me a 
" Diagram" published by Dr. Buchanan in 1843, in the ex- 
planation of which he says, — 

" Any one who has the ambition of discovery, can easily, by 
experimenting on an impressible constitution, discover hundreds of 
new organs or modes of manifestation by making additional subdi- 
visions. Had the author published all the distinct functions which 
he has observed, they would have amounted to more than a thou- 
sand !" 

I doubt whether any man can be found who has sufficient 
genius to write a sentence which shall surpass the above in 
foolishness. If there is any thing on earth more supremely 
ridiculous, it is the position of those who have recommend- 
ed such doctrines to the public. 



NEUROLOGY. 267 

Yet there is truth in Dr. Buchanan's promise, that " any- 
one can, by experimenting on an impressible constitution, 
discover hundreds of new organs j" and I " will undertake 
to execute" an order for any number or any kind of new 
organs which shall be wanted for the gratification of the 
public credulity. If any one else will " undertake" to fur- 
nish names, I will manufacture the organs according to " the 
laws of antagonism and co-operation" which are practiced 
by Dr. Buchanan and Dr. Caldwell. Again, — 

" Every function, or organ, is associated for its balance and 
control with an antagonist function or organ ; and by means of 
these laws of antagonism, the whole mass of Cerebral Physiology 
assumes a wonderful and beautiful simplicity," 

This doctrine of " antagonism" is taught by others besides 
Dr. Buchanan. It is taught by all those who excite (as 
they suppose) the organs by touching the head. In the 
preface of my " New System of Phrenology," I remarked 
that " I cannot countenance the idea that some organs were 
intended as antagonists to others ; they all act in harmony ; 
and though some are more intimately related than others, 
no one, unless abused, counteracts the proper effects of an- 
other." An anonymous writer in the u American Phreno- 
logical Journal" (the proprietor of the Journal says that it 
is Dr. Caldwell) devotes thirteen pages to criticise my book, 
and begins by attacking the remarks in my preface concern- 
ing antagonism. In this criticism Dr. Caldwell takes the 
ground distinctly, that some of the organs of mind were be- 
stowed for the very purpose of opposing others. I have 
not the article now before me, but I recollect that he re- 
bukes me severely for holding a different opinion. Dr. 
Buchanan, it must be remembered, was once a pupil of Dr. 
Caldwell, and very naturally imbibed his opinions on this 
subject as well as others. Accordingly when Buchanan 
made " his organs speak for themselves," they spoke in fa- 



268 NEUROLOGY. 

vor of antagonist organs in a manner which must have as- 
tonished a sensible man like Dr. Caldwell. Is it not 
wonderful that his suspicions were not excited when such 
new antagonist organs were introduced as " Felony, Base- 
ness, Desperation, Idiocy and Coarseness ?" 

The true doctrine upon this subject, I conceive is, that 
any organ is an antagonist to every other which opposes its 
operation and gratification — two organs may be antagonists 
on one occasion and co-operators upon another ; but I re- 
peat what I stated in the preface of my " New System of 
Phrenology," u No organ was intended to counteract the pro- 
per effects of another." Conscientiousness, for instance, may 
co-operate with Kindness to oppose Destructiveness, where 
its aim is unjust; but the same Conscientiousness may co- 
operate with Destructiveness to oppose Kindness, when jus- 
tice demands the sacrifice. When two organs tend to op- 
posite results, and the stimulating circumstances are equal, 
the largest organ will prevail. If the organs are equally 
large and the stimulus of each equal, the result will be an 
intermediate course in which both powers will be gratified 
in a medium degree only ; but if the size or the stimulus of 
one surpasses that of the other, the gratification will equally 
surpass if opportunity is equally favorable to both. There 
is then no such thing as an organ for an antagonist function, 
per se. By adopting a different doctrine, Dr. Buchanan has 
involved himself in a labyrinth from which nothing but re- 
traction can extricate him. Some of the new organs which 
he proposes, are doubtless intended to supply the demand 
for antagonist organs. Thus the organ of Suicide is intro- 
duced to antagonize the organ of Vitality — Ignorance versus 
Knowledge — Mortality versus Immortality — Sanity versus 
Insanity, and so on to the end of the chapter. 

Extract from 'Dr. Buchanan's explanation of his Diagram. 
" Dormant Region. — This is the region productive of trance, 



NEUROLOGY. 269 

and efforts of the mind to know external phenomena intuitively. 
These efforts have been called clairvoyance, prevision and presenti- 
ment. The tendency to such phenomena depends upon those or- 
gans which lie in the order above-named, extending from the sense 
of heights, upwards upon the internal aspect of the front lobe. 
These organs are called dormant, because they are in a dormant or 
inactive state in most persons." 

Buchanan's idea is, that Clairvo}~ance depends upon cer- 
tain organs situated between the upper part of the nose and 
the top of the forehead. There is not the least foundation 
to this assertion beyond the prolific fancy of Dr. B. If this 
is really true and Dr. B. can excite, as he says he can, any 
organ he pleases, he can of course excite these organs and 
produce Clairvoyance at any time in any susceptible sub- 
ject ; but he cannot do this, and he knows it ; what then be- 
comes of his boast about " exciting any organ," &c. 

The following is a part of the " Catalogue of Organs" as 
published by Buchanan with his " Diagram" which is in- 
tended to show their location : — 

" Disease — Relaxation — Indolence — Sullenness — Insanity — Id- 
iocy — Childishness — Rashness — Carelessness — Restlessness — De- 
structiveness — Turbulence — Amativeness — Buffoonery— Animality 
— Ardor, or Calorification — Conductor Organs ; Intellectual — Moral 
—Selfish. 

" Ignorance. — Stupidity — Imbecility — Sleep — Blindness — Awk- 
wardness — Adhesiveness, &c. &c. Not having determined upon 
the nomenclature, the other names of this region are for the present 
omitted. 

"Hardihood, or Insensibility— Temperance— Skepticism— Coarse- 
ness — Vigilance — Combativeness — Moroseness — Perverseness — 
Rudeness — Hostility — Censoriousness— Sternness— Secretiveness — 
Reserve — Deceit — Suspicion — Selfishness— Acquisitiveness— Econ- 
omy — Trading — Avarice — Profanity — Irritability— Gambling— Fel- 
ony — Desperation — Vitality — Baseness — Suicide— Hatred— Cruelty 
— Misanthropy — Ambition : Moral — Criminal.*' 



270 NEUROLOGY. 

It should be particularly remarked that no two of the 
professional Head Touchers agree. Sunderland and Fowler 
locate Secretiveness and Acquisitiveness in the temple 
were Spurzheim does, but Buchanan and others place them 
in the occiput, near Combativeness ; and each rival " touch- 
er" accuses the other of having the organs of " Ignorance 
and Stupidity" in a state of too great activity for the " an- 
tagonist organs," 



SECTION XIV 



PHRENO-MAGNETISM, PATHETISM AND 
HYPNOTISM. 

The Rev. La Roy Sunderland, in the first number of the 
Magnet, published June, 1842, claims to have been the first 
person to make use of " Living Magnetism" to discover the 
functions of the brain. I beg leave to refer to my experi- 
ments with Mr. Hogoboom, of Nassau, as a refutation of 
this claim. I have never heard of any attempts having been 
made to discover the functions of the brain by animal mag- 
netism, previous to the experiments which I made in Buffalo 
by means of Clairvoyance, in 183S. 

The following from Sunderland's Magnet, vol. 1, No. 1, 
is in itself a literary and scientific curiosity, and it will serve 
to show the extent to which the head-touching mania was 
carried, and the confidence with which the resulting the- 
ories were proclaimed : — 

" The editor of this work believes himself to have been the first 
in this, or any other country, to use Living Magnetism as a means 
for Physiological and Phrenological discoveries. — And, though 
almost any other person might have found out the same results 
had he made use of the appropriate means, yet many will doubt- 
less turn up the lip at our statements, who, themselves, would 
have considered it an immortal honor to have enjoyed the facilities 
which have so richly crowned our humble inquiries after truth. 

" Polarity of the Mental and Physical Organs. — The brain 
has five large poles, corresponding with five others in the heart. 
And, with these large poles, there are consecutive poles through- 



272 PHRENO-MAGNETISM. 

out the entire system, connected with every mental and vital organ, 
and with every muscle and portion of the body which is concerned 
in the production of voluntary and involuntary motion. 

V All the organs and muscles of the system are connected with 
the magnetic forces from the brain, so that while the heart is the 
great fountain of vitality to the system, the brain is the organ of 
thought for the mind. And each vital and mental organ has its 
corresponding pole, positive and negative, and these sympathetic 
•points from the different organs are all located in the face and neck, 
so that by operating either on these sympathetic points in the face, 
or the poles of the organs in the brain, I can excite any mental or 
physical action, and remove it, at pleasure, as the condition of the 
patient may require. 

" For instance, by operating on one portion of the brain, I pro- 
duce, in the mind of the patient, the feeling of Self-Esteem; by op- 
erating on another portion, I produce the feeling of Gratitude ; on 
another, the feeling of Joy ; on another, the feeling of Filial Love; 
and so of every emotion or sensation which is peculiar to the hu- 
man mind. And thus, also, of the physical organs. The sympa- 
thetic points, corresponding with the lungs, are located in the face, 
where you will see the hectic flush, in cases of pulmonary con- 
sumption. The points (or poles, it may be,) of the organs of smell, 
are located at the lower part, each side, of the nose, and by ope- 
rating here, I excite the corresponding organ of Smell. The sym- 
pathetic points of Mirthfulness are located in the corners of the 
mouth, and when I operate on these points, they are drawn up in 
the act of laughing. 

" This discovery gives the only true foundation for Physiognomy 
and Pathognomy. It shows, how it is that the mind excites the 
organs, and, also, how it is that the mental faculties excite one an- 
other, and when they are in exercise, it shows how it is that they 
produce the appropriate expression in the eyes, and features of the 
face. Think of it, reader ! And then say what could be more in- 
teresting than a knowledge of these laws, which, as it would seem, 
have remained hidden for six thousand years, by which the mind 
looks out in the face, and express its emotions through the organs 
of clay ! 

11 This discovery enables us to tell you how it is that the feel- 



PHRENO- MAGNETISM. 273 

ings of the mind are conveyed in the tones of the voice ; and by 
■what process the health is affected by the exercise of the intellect ; 
— in a -word, it gives the only true and satisfactory account of the 
manner by which mind and matter are connected, and reciprocally 
act upon each other. And thus I am able, by operating on the 
poles of the organs, to cause the patient to feel the strongest emo- 
tions of Hope, Fear, Courage, Mirthfulness, or in fact, any feeling 
appropriate to the human mind. 

" I have, times without number, produced Sleep, Somnambulism, 
Monomania, Insanity, or Madness, and removed the excitement at 
pleasure. By operating upon the sympathetic points in the face, 
I have produced, or suppressed action in the heart, lungs, liver, 
spleen, kidneys, stomach, larynx, &c, or any muscle or limb 
in the system ; and by the same means, I have found the 
nerves of sensation throughout the system may be excited or par- 
alyzed, and to a degree truly astonishing to such as have never 
seen these most interesting phenomena. 

" I have often removed, in a short time, great nervous excite- 
ment, and by the same means relieved persons who have suffered 
for years from troublesome dreams and a want of refreshing sleep. 

" Groups axd Pairs of Organs. — Another most interesting 
discovery I have made, is, that the Phrenological organs not only 
exist in groups, corresponding with the nature of their functions, 
but most, if not all of them, in double pairs, and some in triple and 
even quadruple pairs ; and the uniformity and beauty of the groups, 
corresponding, as they do, with the consecutive sympathetic points in 
the face, is more interesting than I can find language to describe. 
Never was I so profoundly impressed with a sense of the wisdom 
of that great and good Being, as on finding the location and group- 
ing of the different pairs of organs, with their corresponding sympa- 
thetic points in the face. 

" Thus, for instance, I find in one group those which relate to 
Attachments ; in another, those which relate to Home and Coun- 
try; in another, those which relate to Will, Decision, Justice and 
Government ; in another, those which relate to the Deity and a 
Future State ; in another, those which relate to the defence of our- 
selves, and the preservation of our own lives. And all the corres- 
ponding poles of the perceptive faculties, together with Sublimity, 



274 PHRENO- MAGNETISM. 

are located in the eye ; and the poles of the affections are located 
around the mouth ! 

" Their are two pairs of Individuality, one taking cognizance of 
things and the other of persons ; two of Eventuality, one pair tak- 
ing cognizance of recent, and the other of ancient events ; two of 
Comparison, one pair for ideas, and the other for things; two of 
Benevolence, one for giving, and the other for pity ; two of Ven- 
eration, one for the Deity, and the other for man ; two of Firmness, 
one relating to conscientiousness, and the other for perseverance, 
etc. ; two of Self-Esteem, one for the Human Will and self-gov- 
ernment, and the other for the government of others ; two pairs for 
Fear ; two for Music ; two for Place, and so of the organs of Con- 
scientiousness, Belief, Gratitude, Amativeness ; three of Marvel- 
ousness, one for Faith, one for Human Credence, and another for 
anticipating future events ; and three for Secretiveness, one for Dis- 
guise, one for Keeping Secrets, and the other for Cunning, as is 
seen in the cat and fox ; in the group of Acquisitiveness there are 
three, one giving a desire for Money, one for Keeping, and one giv- 
ing a disposition to Traffic ; in the group of Approbativeness, there 
are four, one giving a regard for Character, one giving a desire 
for Praise, Notoriety, one giving a sense of Ridicule, and another 
giving a desire for Show, and when large, giving Vanity. 

" Opposite Organs — Positive and Negative. — Another import- 
ant fact, deeply interesting to Phrenologists, which is demonstrat- 
ed by my discoveries, is the opposition of the different mental or- 
gans. My experiments have proved that the organs are balanced 
by positive and negative poles ; and that their functions are in op- 
position to each other is certain. As, for instance, one organ is for 
Joy, another for Sadness ; one for Love, another for Aversion ; one 
for Self-Government, another for Submission ; one for Forgiveness, 
another for Retribution ; one for Patience, another for Discontent- 
ment ; one for Courage, another for physical Fear ; one for Confi- 
dence in man, another for Suspicion or Jealousy ; one for Ancient, 
another for Recent Events ; one giving a desire to see Old Places, 
another for New Places, or traveling ; one for Destructiveness, an- 
other for Preserving ; one for Keeping Secrets, another for Loqua- 
city ; one for Opposiveness, another for Suavity ; one for Self- 
Esteem, another for Humility ; one for Praise, another for Censure ; 



PHRENO- MAGNETISM. 275 

one giving a sense of Dependence, and another giving a sense of 
Independence ; &c, &c. 

" This discovery gives the true solution of various shades in the 
characters of different individuals, which have never been explain- 
ed, either by Phrenologists or in any system of mental science 
heretofore offered to the world. And how beautifully this fact 
agrees with the arrangements of nature, to which we have before 
referred. There are two magnetic forces, Positive and Negative ; 
one repels and expands, the other draws and contracts. And by 
these forces all the functions of the human system are carried on, 
not excepting the exercises of the mental organs. For how else 
could these organs be exercised at all? Should they be subject to 
one motion, merely, only in one direction, it would be insanity, or 
madness. The organ of Joy, for instance, is counterbalanced by 
an organ of Sadness. Were one of these organs to be exercised 
without another to check it, Monomania would be the result, and 
so of the others. 

" Correspondence in the Position and Functions of the 
Organs — It had long been known to phrenologists, that the lower 
the organs in the head, the more their functions corresponded with 
the propensities common to the animal creation. But my experi- 
ments have demonstrated, that one pair of the same organs is more 
elevated and refined in its functions than the pair below it. Thus, 
I find, the first pair of Amativeness are common to animals ; the 
pair above are appropriate to intellectual enjoyment. The lower 
organs of Comparison take cognizances of things, the upper ones 
compare ideas ; the lower organs of Causality are exercised on 
things, the upper on metaphysical subjects. And it is a remark- 
able fact, that from mere animal instincts, which relate to the 
preservation of life, and selfish gratification, the organs not only 
ascend in the head, but also in the nature of their functions, till 
we come to the highest, which take cognizance of our relation to 
the Deity, and a future state, not excepting one which is ap- 
propriate to calculating, or perceiving future contingencies ! 

" New Phrenological Organs. — While our experiments have 
in a most remarkable manner, confirmed the discoveries of the im- 
mortal Gall, they have brought out and demonstrated the existence 
of new organs, among which are the following, viz : — Humility, 



276 PHRENO-MAGNETISM. 

Joy, Gratitude, Patriotism, Jealousy, Modesty, Aversion, Smell, 
Taste, Pity, Cheerfulness, Weeping, Contentment, Wit, as dis- 
tinguished from Mirthfulness ; Melody, as distinguished from 
Harmony; Retribution, as distinct from Destructiveness ; Method, 
directing as to the Manner in which things should be done ; Regu- 
larity, as to time and order ; Disguise ; Praise ; Filial Love ; Love 
of Pets, as distinguished from Philoprogenitiveness ; besides the 
pairs of the organs already described, which, as will be seen, more 
than double the number heretofore supposed by Gall, Spurzheim, 
Combe and others. 

" Thus I have given a concise account of the results of the first 
cerebral Magnetic experiments, so far as I know, ever attempted 
in this or any other part of the world. These discoveries are real, 
and founded in the nature of man, and they will ultimately be ad- 
mitted and advocated, as their importance demands. And to have 
been an humble instrument in first making these facts known to 
the world, affords me more pleasure than I could ever derive from 
silver or gold, or all that this earth can afford. 

" No accounts of any similar discoveries, as far as we know, 
have ever been published in this or any other country. Our ex- 
periments have been so often repeated, and for such a length of 
time, upon different ^subjects, that we now feel fully authorized to 
assume the above positions. 

" After commencing my Magnetic experiments, I proposed to 
two scientific gentlemen,* of this city, to assist me in conducting 
them, and it gives me pleasure to acknowledge the aid which their 
kindness has afforded me in this interesting work. And the re- 
sults with which these experiments have since been repeated by 
others, in different parts of the country, have, I think, sufficiently, 
confirmed these assumptions, and left no room to doubt as to -the 
influence which Magnetism is destined to exert, in exhibiting and 
proving the true Science of Human Life throughout the world." 

The jealousy with which these experimenters guarded the 
honor which they supposed was to result from these great 
exploits, is exhibited in the following extract from the same 



* Dr. II H. Sherwood and Mr. 0. S. Fowler, Phrenologist. 



PHKE NO- MAGNETISM. 277 

number of the Magnet. It is an amusing item in the history 
of scientific discoveries, and may be useful in teaching others 
not to be in too great haste to blow the trumpet of fame for 
themselves : — 

" New Discoveries. — Though the editor of this work believes 
himself to have been the first who ever made use of Magnetism for 
the purpose of Phrenological discoveries, yet it would seem, that 
quite a number of others are somewhat anxious to share this honor 
with him. We have seen the names of two different persons, re- 
ferred to in an exchange paper, as having been the first to discover 
the connection between Magnetism and Phrenology ! And this, 
too, for the first time, nearly one year after the accounts of our 
own Magnetic cerebral discoveries had been published to the world ! 
Of course, it is an easy matter for one to find gold, after the mine 
has been discovered and opened by another. But, before it can be 
consistently assumed, that similar Magnetic discoveries to our own, 
were previously made by another, it must be shown that the ac- 
counts of them were previously published, and at the time they were 
made. This is what we did, about one year ago. And, we are 
confident that nothing of the kind had ever been heard of till long 
after our experiments were commenced, which resulted in the dis- 
coveries described in this work. In the New-York Watchman for 
August and October, 1841, were published the accounts of the first 
Magnetic cerebral experiments, as far as we know, that ever were 
performed, in any part of the world. What discoveries may have 
been made by others, since, (and following in our wake,) we, of 
course, do not know ; nor indeed, are we anxious to deprive an- 
other of the credit of having made a discovery of the same thing, 
a year or more after we had published the account of it to the 
world. For notices of our discoveries have appeared in more than 
one hundred different papers, in every part of the country, and they 
have also been published in France and England." 

The following from the London" Phalanx" will give an ex- 
cellent idea of the reception which these discoveries met 
from the very learned gentlemen who compose the Phreno- 
logical Society of London : — 



278 PHRENO-MAGNETISM. 

" phrenological society. — On Monday evening there was a 
full attendance of the members of this Society, at their Chambers 
in Exeter-hall. 

" The President, Dr. Elliotson, delivered a lecture upon the con- 
nection between Phrenology and Mesmerism. He said : I have 
always been scrupulously cautious in introducing the subject of 
Mesmerism at our meetings on account of the difficulties opposed 
to it, and the prejudices existing against it in the minds of man- 
kind ; and I would not do any thing to create a difference of opin- 
ion in the society. But assertions have recently been made in 
public, and opinions have been promulgated in society, (and f see 
no reason against adopting them), that Mesmerism could explain 
some of the most important principles of Phrenology. I was 
always aware of the connection between them, as Mesmerism re- 
lates to the whole of the nervous system, of which Phrenology 
explains one part. There is the less objection to my introducing 
the subject here at present, as the Society for the Diffusion of Use- 
ful Knowledge, with Lord Brougham at their head, and four of my 
late colleagues at the London University Hospital, have now borne 
public testimony to the reality and usefulness of Mesmerism. This 
they have done in the monthly number of the Penny Cyclopaedia. 
What is more remarkable, they have borne their testimony just as 
strongly, and just to the same extent, as I have done in my Phy- 
siology, for I have said no more than that one person can influence 
another in various ways, without the will or consciousness of the 
person influenced ; that so one person can send another to sleep, 
and again awaken the latter at pleasure ; and that he would know 
nothing of what might happen in the interval. I have said that this 
can be done, not only without the knowledge, but even against 
the will. But I was at last compelled, to [admit more than 
this. I was compelled from what I witnessed, to admit that 
persons thus influenced were rendered insensible to pain, even 
to that of severe burning, and of sharp surgical operations, — 
such as the insertion of setons, and the removal of tumors. Yet 
to all these — mad as it must appear — I have been obliged to admit 
' vision without the eye.' Mad as it may appear, I have seen it 
in the most unequivocal manner in three cases, where the eyes were 
blindfolded with the utmost care. 

" But I have mentioned these things, gentlemen, more to smooth 



PHRENO- MAGNETISM. 279 

my way in relating occurrences of a more extraordinary nature 
which have happened in America. In the course of last month, I 
have received a series of newspapers from America containing ac- 
counts of Mesmerism, from which it seemed that when an oper- 
ator had reduced a patient to a state of stupor, he could excite the 
phrenological organs at will ; that parts of the brain could be 
awakened and excited, and afterwards be put to sleep again. 

" Dr. Elliotson then read from a New York paper an account 
of numerous Mesmero-Phrenological experiments, which re- 
lated a vast number of public experiments of similar nature, 
and with similar results. In each case, it is represented that the 
organs, as named by the Phrenologists, invariably manifested, 
under mesmeric influence, the functions attributed to them. The 
relations excited the greatest surprise in the meeting, and were 
listened to with deep attention. He then stated that whilst these 
things were proceeding in America, experiments precisely of the 
same character and effect were carried on in different parts of Eng- 
land, by gentlemen who knew nothing of the operations of each 
other, or of those going on in America. He had sent down copies 
of the American papers to Hampshire to Dr. Engledue, with a re- 
quest that he would hand them to Mr. Gardiner, a gentleman of 
the highest respectability and learning, the son of Sir James Gar- 
diner, an old member of this society. It happened, curiously 
enough, that when Dr. Engledue went over to Southhampton, to 
give the packet of papers (which he himself had not opened) to 
Mr. Gardiner, he found that gentlemen, Mr. Mansfield and others, 
actually engaged in a series of experiments, which, on afterwards 
looking into the packet, they found to correspond exactly with 
those described in the American papers. Dr. Elliotson then read from 
the Hampshire Telegraph, a long account of experiments by Mr. Gar- 
diner, from which we can only make room for the following : — 

" ' I asked the patient referred to, (a young lady ignorant of 
Phrenology,) when in the trance, with what part of the brain she 
kept a secret ? She replied, " on the side of my brain." Upon 
asking her to point out the spot, she placed her finger exactly on 
the organ of secretiveness in my head. I placed my finger on her 
organ of secretiveness, when she said, " Yes, just where I am 
touching my head." In the trance she fancies the two movements 
are identical. Having asked her where she felt anger, she placed 



280 PHRENO- MAGNETISM. 

her finger upon my organ of destructiveness. I inquired — where 
she felt hunger ; her finger rested on my organ of alimentiveness. 
I interrogated her as to the time ; she was wholly unable to tell 
me. The idea then struck me that I might possibly enable her to 
estimate the hour by exciting the organ of time. With this view 
I rubbed the forehead gently at the required spot, exerting my vo- 
lition to the utmost, of course ; " Oh ! that makes me fell so odd." 
1 asked her why ? She replied, " It makes me know what time 
it is." She then told me the time with almost, perfect accuracy. 
She would afterwards always estimate the lapse of time — intervals 
— with astonishing accuracy, upon my exciting the organ of time 
on her forehead. Her finger rubbed on my forehead produced in- 
variably the same results (this is true of all the organs). 

" ' Upon my exciting her organ of tune in the same way. she said, 
" That makes me feel so very cheerful — it makes me like to hear 
some singing." 1 requested her to sing. She persisted in as- 
serting her inability, until I energetically excited self-esteem, 
when she said. " I'll try," and she forthwith hummed an air. When 
her organ of color was excited, she exclaimed with animation, 
" Oh, oh ! I see green, yellow, purple, &c, such beautiful colors." 
If, when she was unable to distinguish an object clearly, I excited 
individuality, she instantly perceived it distinctly. In the trance 
she is never aware of her locality, until the proper organ is excited. 
Upon one occasion, 1 excited constructiveness, when she expressed 
a desire to make a cap model, which she executed upon being sup- 
plied with materials. The organ called wit or mirthfulness being 
excited, she very soon began to laugh involuntarily, although I 
steadily maintained my gravity. I continued the operation, which 
produced an increase in her mirth until she fell into a continuous 
jit of laughter, exclaiming as well as she could, " I shall die of 
laughing." 

" ' Upon exciting her organ of destructiveness, her whole aspect 
and tone gradually underwent the most marked change ; the 
" milk of human kindness" gradually turned to gall and venom ; 
she pouted, frowned, threatened, stormed, clenched her fist, and 
finally became exasperated. Thinking I had gone far enough, I 
breathed on the organ with a view to reduce its activity, and she 
very soon became calm, losing every symptom of anger. 

" ' The most beautiful results were elicited by exciting the organ 



PHRENO-MAGNETISM. 281 

of imitation. She commenced mimicking and imitating with ex- 
traordinary and ludicrous accuracy several peculiarities of her 
acquaintances and friends, not omitting my friend Mr. Mansfield 
and myself in the act of magnetising. Suddenly, by the exercise 
of my whole energy, I paralyzed the organ, and instantly her power 
of imitation vanished. I re-excited the organ, when she im- 
mediately repeated her wonderful mimicry to our intense gratifi- 
cation.' " 

Not one of those who have adopted this doctrine concern- 
ing the excitement of the Phreno-organs has yet retracted, 
or even expressed a doubt concerning the truthfulness of 
their conclusions. I do not know of a phrenologist in this 
country who does not admit them to be true. I believe that 
I am the first who has attempted to show their fallacy. 

The following is a concise summary of the reasons why I 
reject the doctrine : — 

1. When the subject is Claircoyant he knows the inten- 
tion of the operator, or of any third person who instructs the 
operator how to proceed, so that no contrivance can deceive 
him, and, therefore, in Clairvoyant subjects, touching is a 
mere farce. 

2. When the subject is influenced by the will of the opera- 
tor, this alone will explain all the phenomena, even though 
the subject is not Clairvoyant. In this case, also, touching 
the head is a mere farce. 

3. When the subject knows or even suspects that the 
touching of a certain spot is expected to produce certain re- 
sults, he is generally desirous to oblige the operator, and 
will act accordingly. In this case touching the head is also 
a farce, for under these circumstances the same results can 
be produced by touching anywhere else. 

4. When neither Clairvoyance , Will, nor the subjects pre- 
vious knowledge can be brought to bear, the result cannot be 
produced. 

5. When the subject, the operator and all concerned be- 

13 



282 PHRENO-MAGNETISM. 

lieve in any peculiar notion, the experiments will not contra- 
dict that notion, but will confirm it, however absurd it may be. 

6. Subjects are often Clairvoyant enough to know the in- 
tentions of others, when the operator does not suspect it, 
and the operator often influences the subject when he does 
not intend to do so. 

7. Admitting that emanations of Etherium stream from the 
extremities of the fingers — would they not be conducted away 
in all directions by the innumerable nerves and blood-ves- 
sels — the skull and membranes, which intervene between the 
external spot touched, and the Phreno-organs which are sup- 
posed to be excited? This objection acquires additional 
force from the fact that the brain is especially isolated from 
external influences. 

8. The poles or sympathetic points which the touchers 
pretend to find, afford a most conclusive argument against the 
notion that touching proves the location of an organ, for it is 
impossible to know whether you are touching a "pole" or 
an organ. How do you know that there is not a "pole" of 
Acquisitiveness in the integuments of the head just over Com- 
bativeness? Mr. Sunderland says that there is a spot at the 
top of the head, which, when touched, produces the most 
exquisite pain. How does Mr. S. know that this is not 
the pole of Sanativeness ? 

9. The different touchers do not agree. Fowler finds an 
organ of " Human Nature," where Buchanan finds none. 
Sunderland finds nothing to contradict Gall and Spurzheim, 
while Buchanan finds that " one third" of the organs are 
located wrong by Gall and Spurzheim. Buchanan locates 
Secretiveness and Acquisitiveness where Gall located 
Combativeness. Sunderland locates them where Gall did. 
Some of the organs discovered by Buchanan, are ridiculed 
by Sunderland as absurd in themselves, and as contradicted 
by the Touchological process. I pronounce the whole a 
miserable farce, in which insanity and folly are the princi- 



PH R E N O -M A GNE T I SM . 283 

pal performers ; for, the subject is certainly insane, and the 
operator who supposes that he is making great discoveries 
qy such means, is exceedingly foolish. 

10. A great parade and flourish of trumpets has been 
made about the beautiful manner in which the different 
traits of character have been manifested by subjects, when 
the organs were excited by touching ; but all this amounts 
to nothing, when it is known that the very same experi- 
ments, the same results, with the same beauty of style and 
manner are produced, by simply saying to the subject, " you 
are Macbeth ;" or, " you are Queen Victoria;" or, " you 
are a saw-mill." The subjects will generally assume the 
character, and act the part according to their conceptions of 
it, much more perfectly than they could enact the same 
when in the ordinary state ; by this method you can make 
them angry or merry, reverential or profane, at your 
pleasure. 

My attention has just been drawn to an account of some 
experiments of Dr. Elliotson of London, a well-written ac- 
count of which I find in the recently published work of Mr. 
Lang of Edinburgh. Dr. Elliotson is one of the most dis- 
tinguished physicians at present in Europe, and as far as 
mere authority can give influence, his name will have 
probably more weight on this subject than that of any 
other man living. I do not understand that he admits any 
new organs, or new phrenological doctrines as proved, or 
even rendered probable by the experiments, but he seems 
to succeed in exciting the very organs which he previously 
believed in, and no others ; — this being the case, even his 
experiments afford an unanswerable argument against the 
pretensions of Buchanan, Sunderland, Hall, Fowler and 
all the other discoverers of new organs. If the brain real- 
ly could be excited in the way Dr. Elliotson supposes 
that it can, it is no more than reasonable to suppose that 
some new organs would be excited and discovered, and by 



234 PHRENO- MAGNETISM. 

no one more readily than him, since no man in Europe 
understands phrenology better, or advocates it with more 
courage and ability than he does. According to the follow- 
ing account, it seems that when Dr. Elliotson accidentally 
touched with his finger one half of the organ of Self-Esteem 
(called Imperativeness in my nomenclature), that the 
organ was instantly excited. Now, this being the case, 
what is to prevent the function of any minute spot on the 
head from being known ? And how can there be such an 
irreconcilable difference between the results produced by 
different operators ? Do not the very results which Dr. 
Elliotson produced, indicate that his own mind is the origin 
of them, and that they are the mere echo of his ideas ? 

I have repeatedly seen subjects whose organs were so 
easily excited by touching the head, that I could not touch 
ever so slightly, without something going off; and yet, under 
the pretence of curing or preventing headache, I have put 
my fingers on every part of the head, without producing 
any effect ; and I have no doubt such would be the case with 
any of Dr. Elliotson's subjects. Why is this? 

Mr. Lang says, — 

" At the meeting of the Phrenological association in 1842, Dr. 
Elliotson seemed to think that the evidence fell short of proving 
the truth of Mesmeric Phrenology ; but in a letter dated the 1st of 
September, 1842, addressed to Dr. Engledue, and appended to that 
gentleman's address, he states that his coviction of the possibility 
of Mesmerizing distinct cerebral organs is complete. He then pro- 
ceeds to give the following account of two of his patients : — 

" ' I have had for some months under my care, for dreadful fits 
of many years standing, which are yielding satisfactorily to Mes- 
merism, two charming youthful patients, of excellent cerebral de- 
velopment, and carefully brought up, of high intelligence, and of 
high moral character — beautifully illustrating the power of good 
training upon a well developed brain. No poet or moralist could 
desire finer specimens of all that is delightful in the youthful mind. 
They have not known each other. They both exhibit exquisite 






PHRENO- MAGNETISM. 285 

Mesmeric phenomena. Are thrown into a profound coma, which 
no impression on the senses will dispel, and which soon hecomes 
sleep-waking ; their limbs may then be stiffened at pleasure, and 
endowed with enormous force, which, although not yielding to 
mechanical violence, gives way to contact, or to the breath, or to 
movements of the operator's hand, without contact, in the direction 
opposite to that of the limb's position ; the various muscles of the 
face may be made to twitch as if with electricity, and the eyes be 
opened, or the body be drawn by movements of the fingers and 
hands held at a short distance; the position of each finger of the 
operator's hand will he minutely imitated, though the eyes be closed, 
and the experiment be made out of the patients sphere of vision. 
Though showing all the signs of sleep in the breathing, the falling 
of the head, the aspect and the exquisite positions, they may be 
roused to talk, but never to recognize the person nor the place. 
Their dream, if so it may be called, is perfectly rational; but the 
real place, and person addressing, and even the time, are invariably 
fancied otherwise than is the fact.'" 

It is perfectly obvious from this language that the subjects 
were in such a condition that the intention of the operator 
was known. How could they possibly imitate unless the 
minds of the subjects were in perfect communication with 
the mind of the operator ? He is quite sure that they could 
not see, and yet could " minutely imitate," this is perfect 
Clairvoyance. He proceeds, — 

<•' I know to a certainty that both are totally ignorant of phre- 
nology. Without any previous intention, I one day tried to mes- 
merize some of the cerebral organs in the young lady. On placing 
the point of a finger on the right organ of attachment, she strongly 
squeezed my fingers of the other hand, placed in her right hand, 
and fancied I was her favorite sister ; on removing it to the organ 
of self-esteem, she let go my fingers which were in her right hand, 
repelled my hand, mistook me for a person she disliked, and talked 
in the haughtiest manner. On replacing the point of my finger on 
attachment, she squeezed my fingers of the other hand again, and 
spoke affectionately. I removed the point of my finger to de- 



286 PHRENO-MAGNETISM. 

structiveness, and she let go my fingers again, repelled my hand, 
mistook me for some one she disliked, and fell into a passion. 
The finger upon benevolence silenced her instantly ; and made her 
amiable though not attached. I thus could alter her mood, and 
her conception of my person at pleasure, and play upon her head 
as upon a piano. 

" On repeating these experiments, I soon found that the same re- 
sults ensued, though not so rapidly, by merely pointing the finger 
near the organs ; and this was the more satisfactory in demon- 
strating the facts to others ; and indeed it has been quite satisfactory 
to every one, for not only were the eyes closed, but stopped up by 
a handful of handkerchiefs, held firmly upon each eye, and the ex- 
periments were made on organs so situated, that had her eyes been 
open, I defy her to know to what organ I was pointing. These 
experiments I have repeated twenty times. But a fact, still more 
wonderful, is this : — the state of the organ of one side gives evi- 
dence of itself on only half of the system." 

Why is it wonderful that a subject who can perceive and 
imitate fingers which are beyond the " sphere of vision," 
could know to what organ those fingers were pointing ? 
And is it not reasonable to suppose that the effects upon 
one half of the body originated in a suggestion of Dr. 
Elliotson's own thought-teeming mind ? He says, — 

" For instance, if I place my fingers in her right hand, and mes- 
merize Attachment in the right side, she squeezes them and mistakes 
me for a dear friend ; if I then mesmerize self-esteem on the left 
side, she still speaks to me kindly, and squeezes my fingers with 
her right as much as ever. But if I place my fingers in her left 
hand she repels them, and speaks scornfully to me, mistaking me 
for some one whom she dislikes. If I take hold of both her hands 
with one of mine, I can at pleasure make her repel both, by point- 
ing over each organ of self-esteem or destructiveness ; squeeze 
both by pointing over each organ of attachment ; or repel one and 
squeeze the other, right or left, accordingly as I point over the 
organ of self-esteem or destructiveness on the one side, and that of 
attachment on the other, at the same time. These simultaneous, 



PHRENO- MAGNETISM. 287 

and especially the opposite influences on the two sides are the 
most astonishing and beautiful experiments that all physiology 
affords ; and the sight of them enraptures every person. They are 
the more satisfactory because there is no necessity for me to operate, 
— any person, even a skeptic in both phrenology and mesmerism, 
may point to and mesmerize her respective cerebral organs him- 
self, if standing behind her. Under the opposite states of the two 
sides of the brain, she will address the person supposed on the one 
side or the other, and speak affectionately, proudly, or angrily, as 
attachment on the one hand, or self-esteem or destructiveness on 
the other, is mesmerized. The expression, the tone, to say nothing 
of the words or the action of her hands, are exquisitely and rapidly 
in character. In the youth, the organs at present can be excited by 
contact only of the point of the finger, or by breathing over them. 
Attachment, self-esteem, destructiveness, music and color, I have 
excited in him, and the effects came very slowly and continued 
long. 

" It is very interesting to see the first degree, and the working 
up of the feelings. When self-esteem begins slowly they think 
others are proud, and then become haughty themselves; when de- 
structiveness begins slowly, they think others wish to quarrel, 
and then they quarrel — or they begin to find fault with the fancied 
person, who is beloved in the waking state, and then mistake him 
for one disliked in the waking state." 

If she could see to imitate the operator so well, any 
other person's finger would not be much more difficult to 
perceive than those of the operator. I very lately had a 
subject in Manchester, N. H., a gentleman whose name I 
have forgotten, but who is the principal of an academy in 
that place — this gentleman, when apparently awake, was so 
far under the influence of my mind, that by nrv volition — by 
my merely thinking of his ear being burnt, he acted as if it 
was actually burnt. I could do the same to his finger or any 
part I willed. If I stood behind him, and put my finger 
near his ear, or neck, or his hands (they being held behind 
him), he immediately shrunk and said that it hurt, yet I 



288 PH RENO-MAGNETISM. 

did not touch him, but merely pointed within six inches of 
the flesh. He did not pretend that he could see what I was 
doing, but said that he experienced a sensation in the part, 
without knowing the cause : the same happened if any one 
else pointed. I also lately found a similar subject in 
Cooperstown, Otsego county, N. Y., named Bates. Mr. 
Braid, of Manchester, Eng., seems to have noticed similar 
cases, and he attempts to account for them by supposing 
that the ordinary function of "feeling is abnormally exalted." 
It is certain that sometimes the senses are abnormally exalted 
in the subjects to a wonderful degree, and this exaltation is 
generally the incipient stage of Clairvoyance . When the 
currents of Etherium in a galvanic battery become exceed- 
ingly intense in consequence of an additional number of 
plates being brought to bear upon one wire, or avenue, it will 
always overcome ordinary isolation, and spurning its former 
bounds, overleaping its constitutional limits, it tends to enter 
into communication with other bodies — to induct them — to 
make impressions upon them — and, by their re-action, to re- 
ceive impressions in return. If the intensity is increased 
still more, the parallel w r ires or avenues are inducted, and 
their currents neutralized, or conformed in such a w r ay that 
they become vicarious in their function — that is, they per- 
form an office and convey a current, which, of right, belongs 
only to the avenue which has exceeded its limits. 

From this analogy it is easy to understand abnormal sen- 
sation and Clairvoyance, for this also is produced by bring- 
ing an additional number of cerebral plates to bear upon the 
same avenue or nerve of the subject, and when the currents 
of both operator and subject take the same direction through 
the same nerve, there is of course greater intensity, and when 
there is greater intensity there is a tendency to pass the iso- 
lating bounds. Hence we have uncommon manifestations 
of muscular strength, which are, in fact, but modes in which 
the currents of Etherium are escaping. Hence, also, we 



P II RENO- MAGNETISM. 289 

have abnormal manifestations of sensation or Clairvoyance — 
which are but the re-aciions that follow the intensity in the 
nerves of motion — which re-action is aided by the induction 
of currents from the operator, and from other surrounding 
bodies — and let us remember that action and re-action are 
equal. Hence, again, we have vicarious function — that is, 
we have the nerves or avenues of one kind of sensation 
transposed so as to become the avenues of other kinds of sen- 
sation ; we have the nerves of touch changed to nerves of 
sight or to nerves of smell; we have instances of subjects 
who could smell with the fingers and see with the toes. If 
any one finds it difficult to conceive the possibility of this, let 
me remind him that the different sensations are but different 
motions of the same Etherium ; and that nothing is necessary 
to produce this apparent miracle but to change the motion 
which is passing through one nerve so as to make it like the 
motion which is passing through another nerve ; — the motion 
through the nerves of touch like that through the nerves of 
sight. Hence, too, we have utter insensibility and paralysis 
produced by the currents of the operator counteracting, neu- 
tralizing:, reversing and conformins; the currents to and from 
the brain of the subject. Again, — 

" A gentleman, who, through the kind invitation of Dr. Elliot- 
son, was enabled to witness some experiments, has given the fol- 
lowing account of what fell under his observation : — 

"'At the hour appointed, there assembled in Dr. Elliotson's 
drawing-room a party whom it would be exceedingly difficult to 
match, for intelligence and beauty, out of the metropolis ; for be- 
sides that portion of the sterner sex to whom such an exhibition 
might be supposed to have its attractions, there were present 
" stores of ladies, whose bright eyes rained influence ;" and it argues 
much for the interest which this subject creates amongst all classes, 
that a dissertation upon it should have the effect of drawing to- 
gether however small a portion of the female aristocracy of Eng- 
land, who have, at this season, so many powerful objects of at- 
13* 



290 P II RENO- MAGNETISM. 

traction of a more congenial nature ; and it argues still more for 
the worth and intellect of the fair ones of the British Court, that 
they should endeavor, by a personal inspection, to satisfy themselves 
of the reality of that condition, which, when once established, bids 
fair to open up to us new views of the natural history of mankind. 

" ' The first patient introduced was a young girl, who has been 
operated upon hitherto in spite of herself. She had all along been 
inclined to treat the subject with ridicule, and, after having been 
prevailed upon to submit, has since formed one of the best illustra- 
tions of its reality. 

" ' It took a considerable time to effect the transformation in 
this instance, in consequence of her extreme state of excitement. 
The change was at last effected, and, by dint of continued and 
repeated trials, she was prevailed on to speak. Dr. Elliotson 
stood beside her chair, and sustained a conversation with her for a 
considerable period, while another gentleman stood behind her 
chair, and pointed at (not touched) the various phrenological de- 
velopments. The changes in her looks, temper and replies were 
very apparent, and such as to satisfy any one, since it was im- 
possible that she could form the slightest idea of the effects intend- 
ed to be produced, even admitting that these results where pro- 
duced by trickery, which they evidently were not. 

" ' The chair on which she reclined was wheeled into a corner, 
and she was left to awaken at her leisure. The attitudes into 
which she threw herself while in the course of awakening were 
very beautiful, and might have afforded models to the painter or 
sculptor, When awoke, she shook hands with, and described her 
sensations to, several of the ladies present. 

" ' The next case was that of an elderly female, who, it was 
stated, had been cured by Baron Dupotet of epilepsy, of many 
years' standing. It is now several years since the cure was effect- 
ed, and no return of the complaint has yet occurred. The holding 
of Dr. Elliotson's fingers to her eyes was attended with an imme- 
diate convulsive movement all over the system ; in a very few 
seconds she fell back in a state of intense rigidity, which could be 
removed by breathing upon any particular limb. In whatever 
position, however, the limb was placed, it almost instantly as- 
sumed the rigid state, exactly resembling the sudden setting of 
stucco in a mould. Several of the ladies went forward to examine 



PHRENO-MAONETISM. 291 

for themselves, and each expressed their opinion, that it would be 
impossible for the most expert impostor to imitate such a condition. 
The pointing to the various organs was now tried, and was at- 
tended with even more striking manifestations than in the former 
case. In short, whoever could believe that these results were the 
effects of imposture, must have been possessed of even a greater 
amount of credulity than others who humbly believed what they 
saw, and trusted to time and patient investigation for an elucida- 
tion of the mystery. 

" ' The position which Dr. Elliotson holds as a man of science, 
places him far above being benefitted by any mere casual notice of 
his labors ; and it is indeed gratifying to reflect, that although the 
illiberal and bigoted of his own profession have attempted to im- 
pair his means of usefulness, there arc many others who, while 
they have been benefitted by him, have had the gratitude to ac- 
knowledge his services.' 

"Dr. Elliotson, and others, who believe in both Mesmerism and 
Phrenology, maintain that the manifestations are so many proofs 
of the truth of Phrenology ; while Mr. Colquhoun, who rejects 
Phrenology, accounts for them by the supposition that they are 
produced by the will of the operator ; that the latter, in putting his 
hand upon a particular organ, naturally looks for a certain result, 
and that it is produced accordingly, through the community of feel- 
ing existing between him and the patient. In his letter appended 
to Dr. Engledue's address already referred to, Dr. Elliotson says, 
in reference to the question here started, — 

" ' If it should be urged, that these experiments prove nothing 
for phrenology, because the excitement of certain ideas in the brain 
of the patient resulted from the mere will of the operator, and not 
from his manipulations over particular cerebral organs, the answer 
is easy. The will of the operator certainly must be influential in 
producing Mesmeric sleep, if it is true that patients may be Mes- 
merized to sleep when the Mesmerizer is far away from them ; 
and I presume it is. But this can be only one source of power. I 
have made experiments in Mesmerism daily, except the two months 
when I travel in every year, for five years, carefully, with no 
other desire than that of truth, and in the utmost variety of cases, 
and have never once discovered the influence of my will. I have 



292 PHRENO-MAGNETISM. 

never produced any effect by merely willing. I have never seen 
reason to believe (and I have made innumerable comparative experi- 
mentsupon the point) that I have heightened the effect of my processes 
by exerting the strongest will, or lessened them by thinking inten- 
tionally of other things, and endeavoring to bestow no more atten- 
tion upon what I was about than was just necessary to carry on 
the process.' " 

I do not understand that Dr. Elliotson means to deny that 
the will of the operator does sometimes produce movements 
in the subject, but only that he has not himself observed it, 
yet the subject's minute imitation of his fingers can only be 
referred to his own will moving his own fingers, and thus by 
sympathy indirectly moving the fingers of the subject. I 
confess that I have myself found the effects w r hich I have 
produced were not in proportion to my conscious efforts. I 
have found that by my will I could produce certain effects ; 
but I have not found those effects increased by increasing the 
energy of my efforts, though I have found them increase by 
the continuity of the efforts, and by repetitions of them at 
different times. But it is easy to convince any one that his 
will does produce certain effects which are independent of 
the imagination of the subject. I have satisfied hundreds in 
the following manner, which I will take the liberty to re- 
commend to the attention of Dr. Elliotson : Take almost 
any person who is unacquainted with the subject, or with 
the object of the experiment — ask him to sit down and close 
his eyes and keep them closed — take hold of his hands as if 
you are going to induct him in the usual manner, and, after 
you have held them about five or ten minutes, let go carefully 
of one hand ; and will the thumb to move ; and in five cases out 
of six it will do so, even though the subject is not in the 
least asleep, and though he is so slightly affected that he 
stoutly denies that he is affected at all. I have generally 
found, indeed, in this experiment, that, if there are not wit- 
nesses present, the subject is apt to attribute the whole to 



PH RENO-MAGNETISM. 293 

accident or fancy, because he feels nothing and experiences 
no novel sensations. 

I succeeded perfectly in performing this experiment a 
few days ago upon the Hon. Judge Baker, of the Washing- 
ton Common Pleas. This case is peculiar. I could slightly 
move any finger by my will, when his eyes were closed, 
and he was unconscious of the operation. I performed the 
same afterwards when he was aware of it, and what is still 
more curious, I could cause the muscles on the back of his 
hand to move and quiver by my mere will or volition, 
though he could not produce the same movement with his 
volition. Judge Howe and Mr. Attorney Baily were pre- 
sent and witnessed the operation. 

In Cooperstown, Mr. Bates, when quite awake, in the 
presence of several citizens — if he closed his eyes and I stood 
behind him and told him that I was going to will one of his 
feet or hands to move, without telling him which it was to 
be, and requested him to remain merely passive — the ex- 
periment succeeded to the satisfaction of all present. When 
I merely wanted to satisfy myself — I willed, and he moved 
accordingly — but when I wished to satisfy others, I stood be- 
hind Bates and made a sign to let them know which limb I 
intended to move. The Dr. says, — 

" So far from willing, I have at first had no idea of what would 
be the effect of my processes, — one set of phenomena have come 
unexpectedly in one case, and one in another, without my being 
able to explain the diversity of effect : nay, the same process, con- 
ducted with the same object, turns out to produce opposite results in 
different cases. For instance, 1 can powerfully excite the individual 
cerebral organs in the young gentleman by breathing over them ; 
but when I breathe over those of the young lady, desiring and ex- 
pecting the same effects, no excitement is produced ; on the con- 
trary, if they are already excited, they at once become inactive. 
The same effect requires different processes in different persons ; 
point to the epigastrium of some persons, and will with all your 



294 p HR ENO- MAGNET ISM. 

might, and nojesult comes, but point to their eyes, and they drop 
asleep ; make passes, or point at the back of the head, and will 
with all your might, and either no effect will ensue, or sleep will 
not take place before far longer time has elapsed than if you oper- 
ate before the face ; you may make passes in vain with all your 
might before the face of some persons, who drop senseless pre- 
sently if you merely point ; and hence is apparent the error of those 
who gratuitously assert, that the processes merely heighten the will 
of the operator. As to the influence of the operator's will in ex- 
citing the cerebral organs, the effect ensues as well in my female 
patient, though the manipulator be a skeptic, and may therefore be 
presumed not to wash the proper result to ensue, and though I 
stand aside and do not know what organ he has in view : I have 
never excited them by the mere will : I have excited them with 
my fingers just as w T ell when thinking of other matters with my 
friends, and momentarily forgetting what I was about : 1 have 
always failed, however much I willed, when I have directed the 
finger to another organ than that which I willed to excite inten- 
tionally, or have accidentally misdirected my finger." 

The true explanation of these cases, and of many similar 
puzzling phenomena is in my opinion to be found in the 
caprice and Credencive imagination of the subjects. I have 
found that where a subject gets any unfounded notion into 
his head, either from the suggestion of any one else, from 
his own reasoning, or from the practice of the operator, 
this notion will have the effect to prevent the success of 
every experiment which does not accord with it. This is 
the reason why different processes succeed with different 
subjects. There is a love of forms and ceremonies in 
superstitious minds, (and the best subjects are generally 
predisposed to superstition,) a disposition to connect effects 
with certain peculiar mysterious processes, so that I think 
it important in performing experiments, not to neglect any 
ceremony or movement which is calculated to produce an 
effect upon the Credenciveness and Submissiveness of the 
subject. This is especially important when the object is to 



PHRENO- MAGNETISM. 295 

improve the health of the subject, and I commend it to 
the serious consideration of physicians as a valuable auxili- 
ary to their forces medicatrix. Again, — 

" 1 was taken quite by surprise when I found that I Mesmerized 
an organ, self-esteem, for instance, in the half only to which my 
ringer happened to be pointed." 

After subjects have learned that touching or pointing at 
a certain part is to be followed by certain movements ; that 
is, as soon as they have learned to know the sign, and to 
interpret it, they will always afterwards act in accordance 
with their " first lessons," a subject therefore who by sym- 
pathy and by Clairvoyance has learned what the sign is, and 
what it means, does not afterwards need to know any thing, 
but that the sign is made ; and I have already shown that 
subjects such as this which Dr. Eiliotson has, can tell when 
a finger is held or pointed near them. What I mean is, that 
they use Clairvoyance to learn the intention of the operator 
the first time the experiment succeeds, (provided that they 
previously did not know any thing of Phrenology,) and 
afterwards they know by an exaltation of the senses, when 
and where the finger is pointing at them, after the manner 
of my subject at Manchester, N. H., and Bates at Coopers- 
town. How would Dr. Eiliotson himself explain it ? 
Would he say that his fingers and the fingers of any person 
evolve a stimulus which excites Phreno-organs against the 
will of the operator ? He has left us no other alternative, 
and we know that this is not true, since we can put our 
fingers upon the heads of any of these subjects to cure their 
head-ache, and under other pretences without exciting their 
organs at all until we excite their suspicions. 

" We are unable," says Mr. Lang, " to agree entirely either with 
Mr. Colquhoun or Dr. Eiliotson. The will of the operator we 
conceive to be totally insufficient to account for the varied manifes- 
tations of Phreno-Mesmerism, The individual placing his hand 



296 PHRENO-MAGNETISM. 

upon the organs may be an utter skeptic in phrenology, or he may 
be ignorant of their position, and therefore not aware of the effect 
about to be produced, and yet the manifeslation may be correctly 
produced. On the other hand, we think Dr. Elliotson mistaken in 
placing so little reliance on the power of the operator's will. That 
his own experience is faithfully related, there cannot be a doubt, 
but it has been different with many others. 

" We have seen many curious results flow from the mentally ex- 
pressed wish of the operator, some of which have been recorded 

in the cases in this volume. In that of Catherine M , on 

one occasion when her brother had excited the organ of love of ap- 
probation, she began to decorate her person, took down her hair, 
and commenced to comb it. The manifestation stopped the instant 
the finger was removed. We quietly requested him, without again 
going near the patient, to proceed to a distant part of the room, 
and there to wish that the manifestation should be resumed. On 
his doing so, she commenced at the part she broke off, went on with 
the duties of the toilet, and did not stop until he again came near 
her. He was then requested , also in such a manner that the pa- 
tient could not be aware of what was about to be done, to put his 
fingers upon Conscientiousness, but firmly to will the manifesta- 
tion of Acquisitiveness. It appeared to some present, that there 
was a conflict going on for a time in the mind of the patient, but 
the practical result of the experiment was, that she picked her 
brother's pockets. He then ceased to wish, keeping his fingers 
still unmoved upon Conscientiousness, when she threw away the 
the articles of which she had possessed herself, and exhibited strong 
marks of shame at having been detected in an improper act. We 
do not bring forward these facts for the purpose of disproving the 
organology of phrenology, but merely to show that the will of the 
operator — his wish unexpressed in ordinary language — has a pow- 
erful effect upon the minds of certain patients. 

" Again, patients have been led into erroneous manifestations, 
through conversations carried on by those around them. Thus, 
an operator and patient, alike ignorant of phrenology, being se- 
lected for the purpose of testing the truth of that science, results 
such as the following were induced : A gentleman present under- 
took to guide the operator, and stating aloud that he intended that 
Veneration should be touched, directed the hand of the operator to 



PHRENO-MAGNETISM. 297 

the organ of Acquisitiveness. The manifestation was that of Ven- 
eration. In the same manner, the patient picked pockets on Ven- 
eration being touched, and the manifestation was invariably that 
talked of by the gentleman who directed, and not that of the organ 
which the operator touched. We have seen patients who danced 
whenever a particular part of the leg was touched ; discovered 
smells, upon the hand of the operator being applied to the nose ; 
and spectators might almost have been led to fancy that there were 
organs in every corner of the face. In these cases, we should sup- 
pose that there must have been some sort of previous teaching, 
and that the patient, associating the idea of a particular manifesta- 
tion with being touched in a particular spot, thus came to repeat 
it. We must recollect, that the memory of sleep-wakers is much 
more acute than in their ordinary state, and that the most trifling 
occurrence is recalled by them with the greatest accuracy. 

"These hints are thrown out principally for the purpose of induc- 
ing caution. In the hands of some operators, organs are multiply- 
ing at a wonderfully rapid rate, such as it is difficult to follow ; 
and inquirers would do well to proceed with the utmost care in the 
investigation, We neither admit nor reject Mesmerism as a proof 
of the truth of phrenology. We certainly incline to the opinion 
that the connection between the two doctrines will ultimately be 
established ; but, meanwhile, we should like to see the question 
submitted to the test of further careful experiment." 

Mr. Lang, like a shrewd Scotchman, as he is, seems to 
be a little suspicious that all is not right, though he lacks 
the courage and decision to attack and overturn the error. 
His remark in regard to the memory of sleep-wakers , (an 
awkward term for subjects whose external senses are in- 
ducted) is just and important. There are many instances 
of subjects recollecting, when the brain is in an intense ex- 
citement, what they had forgotten for many years ; and in 
some well attested cases even recollecting every word of 
w T hat they had heard read but once, and that in another 
language many years before — a language too with which 
they were not acquainted either then or afterwards. If 



298 PHRENO- MAGNETISM. 

such statements are to be believed, how much dependence 
are we to place upon the general assertion that the subject 
knows nothing of phrenology, and yet is " an intelligent" 
person. What intelligent person has not seen busts and 
phrenological works and pictures, &c, when the works of 
Spurzheim and Combe, like the blessed light of heaven, 
illuminate every palace, mansion and cottage throughout* 
the country. Though they may know comparatively little 
about it now, they once did know, and may recall the im- 
pression in some instances, and cause it, like a false light — an 
ignis fatuus, to lead the confident experimentalist astray. 

Mr. James Braid, of Manchester, Eng., has published a 
work during the last year entitled Neurypnology, or Hyp- 
notism, or the rationale of nervous sleep considered in rela- 
tion to Animal Magnetism. There is nothing novel in the 
principles advanced by this gentleman, nor in the facts which 
he brings forward in support of them ; but he has a singular 
way of viewing the subject, and has attracted attention by 
professing to have made a discovery by which he can put a 
majority of persons to sleep in a few minutes, by causing 
them to look upwardly and inwardly in such a way as to 
tire the eye and the mind. His discovery, however, amounts 
to nothing, that I can perceive, more than we knew before. 
He labors throughout his work with the zeal of a young con- 
vert, but he also betrays the inexperience of a neophyte. 
Yet there is an evident candor and honesty in his style which 
wins our good opinion, and besides, he has interwoven much 
interesting matter into his treatise. He rejects the idea of 
a fluid or Etherium of any kind being the agent by which 
the phenomena are produced ; but at the same time candidly 
admits that he is puzzled to account for them. He has never 
had an opportunity to witness any cases of Clairvoyance 
which were of so extreme and decided a character as to 
satisfy him that it is more than an abnormal exaltation of 
the senses, it is therefore plain that his observations have 



PHRENO- MAGNETISM. 299 

been quite limited. Some of his experiments seem to puz- 
zle him exceedingly, which are easily explained by the prin- 
ciple of Credencive induction ; a principle, in truth, which 
explains many of the most mysterious of the cases which 
Etheropathy presents. On page 4, he says : — 

" There were certain phenomena, which I could readily induce 
by particular manipulations, whilst I candidly confessed myself 
unable to explain the modus operandi by which they were induced. 
I referred particularly to the extraordinary rapidity with which 
dormant functions, and a state of cataleptiform rigidity, may be 
changed to the extreme opposite condition, by a simple waft of 
wind, either from the lips, a pair of bellows, or by any other 
mechanical means. I solicited information on these points, both 
privately and publicly, from all the eminently scientific gentlemen 
who honored me with their company during the ^meetings of the 
British Association in this town ; but no one ventured to express 
a decided opinion as to the causes of these remarkable phenomena. 
1 now beg to assure every reader of this treatise, that I shall 
esteem it a great favor to be enlightened on points which I confess 
are, at present, still above my comprehension." 

This experiment is well calculated at first view to excite 
surprise ; but when it is known that not only a " simple 
waft of wind" but a simple ceremony of any other kind, 
such as whistling, or snapping of the fingers, or any thing 
else, will produce the same effect, we shall begin to look to 
that power of the mind which believes in and submits to 
ceremonies and processes, in full confidence that they are 
potent in themselves. In this particular case, I take it that 
Credenciveness was the agent which produced the rigidity, 
and which so readily changed it to a natural condition. Mr. 
Braid himself says, in his preface, that the fact that some 
patients operated upon themselves " and produced results 
precisely the same as when done by any one else, seems 
the most decisive proof possible that the whole results from 
the mind and body of the patient's acting and re-acting on 



300 PHRENO- MAGNETISM. 

each other, and that it has no dependence on any special in- 
fluence emanating from another." Now this is the same 
conclusion to which many others have arrived, from an im- 
perfect view of the subject ; but none of these have attempt- 
ed to explain the modus operandi in which it is possible that 
the mind or the imagination produces the effects. I believe 
that I am the first to attempt to give an explanation, and on 
this ground I claim some indulgence. I think that I have 
shown that those gentlemen are mistaken who attribute all 
the effects produced to the imagination of the subject, and 
on the other hand I have explained how it is that the mind 
of the subject is capable of producing those phenomena 
which have hitherto seemed so very mysterious. He says : 

" I have also had the state of the patient tested before, during 
and after being hypnotized [mesmerized], to ascertain if there was 
any alteration in the magnetic or electric condition, but although 
tested by excellent instruments, and with great care, no appreciable 
difference could be detected Patients have been hypnotized whilst 
positively, and also whilst negatively, electrified, without any ap- 
preciable difference in the phenomena ; so that they appear to be 
excited independently of electric or magnetic change. I have also 
repeatedly made two patients hypnotize each other, at the same 
time, by personal contact. How could this be reconciled with the 
theory of a special influence transmitted being the cause of the 
phenomena, plus and minus being equally efficient ?" 

Many seem to stumble over this difficulty. They think 
that because in applying common electricity, or magnetism, 
they can perceive no effect from it, either one way or the 
other, therefore, there can be no " special influence trans- 
mitted." But this reasoning is not in harmony with the 
well known facts in Etherology. Light and heat are, by 
modern philosophers, considered as the motions of the 
same substance ; both are referred toa" special influence 
transmitted ;" yet, a room warms when light or dark, and 
it is lighted when cold or warm, " without any appreciable 



PHRENO- MAGNETISM. 301 

difference" in the phenomena. So, also, magnetic elec- 
tricity operates through glass, without any apparent diminu- 
tion of power ; but electricity which is evolved by the 
friction of a common electric machine, will not produce 
any effect whatever through glass, nor shellac, nor resin ; 
yet, there is no doubt, in the minds of our most eminent 
chemists, that the electric machine and the magnet both 
depend upon modifications of the same " special influence 
transmitted." 

A common bar magnet will attract iron and produce all 
its phenomena, " whilst positively, and also whilst nega- 
tively, electrified, without any appreciable difference," but 
it by no means follows that they are independent of any 
electric or magnetic change. 

As for the fact which seems to puzzle Mr. Braid, that 
u two patients" induct, or " hypnotize each other at the 
same time, by personal contact," it is explained by credencive 
induction. The truth is, personal contact is not necessary 
in such cases ; nothing is necessary but signs, ceremo- 
nies and assertions, by which to excite the conforming 
socials, especially Credenciveness. 

The argument against the agency of Etherium in 
Etheropathy, drawn from these difficulties of Mr. Braid 
and others, amount to nothing, unless they apply it equally 
to refute the idea of a fluid in magnetic or electric pheno- 
mena. Let them explain, if they can, why a magnet can 
be made of no metal but iron or cobalt, and yet that electro- 
magnetism can be produced by the combination of acid 
with any metal ? If a fluid draws a piece of iron, why 
should it have no effect upon silver ? 

At page 37, Mr. Braid says : — 

Ci The supposed power of seeing with other parts of the body 
than the eyes, I consider is a misnomer, so far as I have yet per- 
sonally witnessed. It is quite certain, however, that some patients 
can tell the shape of what is held at an inch and a half from the 



302 PHRENO-MAGNETISM. 

skin, on the back of the neck, crown of the head, arm, or hand, or 
other parts of the body, but it is from feeling they do so ; the ex- 
tremely exalted sensibility of the skin enabling them to discern the 
shape of the object so presented, from its tendency to emit or ab- 
sorb caloric. This, however, is not sight, but feeling. 

" In like manner I have satisfied myself and others, that patients 
are drawn, or induced to obey the motions of the operator, not 
from any peculiar inherent magnetic power in him, but from their 
exalted state of feeling enabling them to discern the currents of air, 
which they advance to, or retire from, according to their direction. 
This I clearly proved to be the case to-day, and that a patient 
could feel and obey the motion of a glass funnel passed through 
the air at a distance of fifteen feet." 

This gentleman tells us something here which is quite 
as difficult to conceive and to admit as anything in Clair- 
voyance : — that a person can perceive the shape of a thing 
by the back of the neck, without contact, merely by the 
feeling ot warmth or coldness. And when the distance is 
fifteen feet, finding that the variation of temperature 
will not be a plausible theory, he adopts another, which is, 
that it is the perception of the touch of the air ! ! Really, 
his skepticism is of a most credulous kind — to avoid Scylla, 
he betakes himself to Charybdis. He proceeds, — 

" To remove all sources of fallacy as to the extent of influence 
exercised by the patient herself, independently of any personal or 
mental influence on my part, whilst I was otherwise engaged, my 
daughter requested the patient to go into a room by herself, and, 
when alone, try whether she could hypnotize herself. In a short 
time I was told the patient was found fast asleep in my drawing- 
room. I went to her, bandaged her eyes, and then, with the glass 
funnel, (which I used to avoid the chance of electric or magnetic 
influence being passed from my person to that of the patient,) ele- 
vated, or drew up her arms, and then her whole body. I now re- 
tired fifteen feet from her, and found every time I drew the funnel 
towards me, she approached nearer, but when it was forced sharply 
from me, she invariably retired ; and if it was moved laterally, she 
moved to the right or left accordingly." 



PHRENO- MAGNETISM. 303 

In this country, I can assure Mr. Braid, that every 
chemical tyro, and almost every schoolboy, knows that 
magnetism will pass through a glass funnel just as well as 
through a steel runnel ; although electricity will not pass 
through glass, magnetism will. 

Page 65, Mr. Braid says : — 

" There is another most remarkable circumstance, that whilst 
the patient is in the state of torpor and rigidity, we may pass 
powerful shocks of the' galvanic battery through the arms, so as 
to cause violent contortions of them, without his evincing the 
slightest symptom of perceiving the shocks, either by movement 
of the head or neck, or expression of the countenance. On partial- 
ly arousing the head and neck, as by gentle pressure on the eyes, 
or passing a current of air against the face, the same shocks will 
be felt, as evinced by the movements of the head and neck, the 
contortions of the face, and the whine, moan, or scream of the 
patient. All this may happen, as I have witnessed innumerable 
times, and the patient be altogether unconscious of it when roused 
from the hypnotic condition." 

All this is no more remarkable than that pinching, cut- 
ting, or burning will not be felt by a subject in the same 
condition. As for his " current of air" to rouse the sub- 
ject, any other ceremony will do as well. To prove that 
currents of air are without effect, unless through the Cre- 
denciveness of the subject, I have only to say that I have 
put them into this condition when the wind was blowing 
freely upon them, and it made no difference. I have many 
subjects who, when perfectly awake, if I tell them that an 
electric shock will have no effect upon them unless they 
whistle or sing, such will be the case ; and, on the other 
hand, if I tell them that a grindstone or a coffee-mill is an 
electric machine, and will give them severe shocks when 
they touch it, they will be shocked accordingly, and seem 
to . experience the same sensations as if it was really an 
electric machine. Will Mr. Braid try this ? 



SECTION XV. 



COMMUNION WITH SPIRITS. 

The belief of many very honest persons, in the commun- 
ion of subjects with the spirits of the departed dead, is un- 
doubtedly a delusion into which they have been led by their 
own credulity, and the peculiar condition and superstition 
of the subjects. When a subject is under Etheropathic in- 
fluence to a certain extent, he can be easily made to believe 
that he sees or hears the supernatural inhabitants of heaven 
or hell. He can be inspired, and generally is, with the no- 
tions of the operator, especially if he is Clairvoyant enough 
to perceive the state of the operator's mind. Under these 
circumstances, if the subject is questioned, he will some- 
times surprise, delight, or horrify the operator, by merely 
echoing back to him his own superstitions. I am acquainted 
with a most respectable gentleman who was a Universalist, 
but became converted to a belief in the existence of perdi- 
tion, by a subject who described to him the exact appear- 
ance of his mother, and several other dear relatives who 
were dead, and who had never in life been seen by the sub- 
ject. It did not occur to the credulous gentleman that his 
own mind was like a mirror to the mind of the subject, and 
that his own thoughts reflected the images of his departed 
friends. But he really supposed that by Clairvoyance the 
subject actually looked into the eternal world, and from its 
countless myriads selected his relatives and described them 



COMMUNION OF SPIRITS. 305 

with perfect accuracy. He therefore proceeded to question 
the subject as to what his mother said, and whether she had 
any communication to make to him. He was informed by 
the subject, in reply, that his mother was in heaven, and 
was desirous to warn her son of his errors, and to assure 
him of his imminent danger of falling into eternal perdition. 
Overwhelmed with awe, and terrified with these solemn 
revelations, he sunk on his knees, and in an agony of con- 
viction surrendered his former faith, and from that day to 
this has acted consistently with the resolves of reformation 
which he then made. 

There is at this moment a large number of very respecta- 
ble persons in this State, who sincerely believe in the 
reality of communion with spirits by means of Etheropathy ; 
to ridicule it will only make their belief stronger by excit- 
ing the principle of stubborn opposition ; but I think they 
will become convinced of their error when they find that 
subjects can be made to believe or to see any thing which 
whim or caprice may suggest, provided they have not been 
previously committed for or against it. Many persons have 
become convinced of the existence of supernatural spirits 
from the evidence afforded by mesmerism who were previ- 
ously skeptical, and on the other hand many have become 
convinced of the reality of mesmerism from the supposition 
that it proved the existence of spirits, and was therefore 
favorable to religious belief. The truth, however, is that 
mesmerism or Etheropathy sheds no light whatever on this 
subject. It leaves it where it finds it. 

Emanuel Swedenborg was undoubtedly one of the great- 
est men that ever lived ; and possessed the extraordinary 
power of exercising Clairvoyance whenever he pleased. He 
was literally a " Seer." I suspect that he obtained some 
of his wonderful scientific knowledge of nature by the exer- 
cise of this power ; but his supposed communion with spirits 
and many of his other peculiar ideas probably originated in 
his own Credencive fancy. It was perfectly natural for one 
14 



306 COMMUNION OF SPIRITS. 

who had been educated in the popular belief concerning 
supernatural beings, to imagine, when he found himself pos- 
sessed of Clairvoyant perception, that he was indebted to 
these beings for his peculiar advantages over his fellow- 
men. If he was a good and virtuous man like the Baron 
Swedenborg, he would imagine that his inspirations pro- 
ceeded from good and happy spirits, who condescended to 
sympathize with him. But if he was conscious of his own 
moral depravity, he would be likely to clothe the spirits, — 
whom his creative fancy called u from the vasty deep" of 
superstition — with characters like his own. He would con- 
ceive them to be selfish, malignant and revengeful like him- 
self. 

I have little doubt that the ancient witches, spoken of in 
the Bible, were persons who ignorantly made use of induc- 
tion and Clairvoyance for wicked and malicious purposes, 
and this is the reason of ^the command, " Thou shalt not suffer 
a witch to lice." It is also evident that the witches them- 
selves attributed their success to their alliance with infernal 
beings. Some of the Salem witches confessed that they had 
been aided by the devil, and admitted the justice of the sen- 
tence of death which followed the confession. These poor 
witches were unquestionably insane in mind and peculiarly 
diseased in body, while the whole surrounding community 
considered them as willful rebels against God and allies of 
the Prince of darkness. 

Some modern fortune-tellers have been supposed to be 
in league with Satan, on account not only of their successful 
impostures, but from their actual performances and revela- 
tions. Some have the power when looking into a particu- 
lar stone or piece of semi-transparent glass to perceive in a 
Clairvoyant manner, which is well calculated to excite 
astonishment in a superstitious and ignorant mind, some 
again have a faculty of talking to sores, felons and burns, in 
such a way as to " take the soreness out," they actually 



COMMUNION OF SPIRITS. 307 

perform this apparent miracle whenever the patient is in 
any degree susceptible to Etheropathic induction, but 
not otherwise. It is my opinion that there are peculiar 
kinds of susceptibility which have not yet been noticed 
by scientific men, and which will explain many strange 
things that now are deemed as mere idle dreams or strik- 
ing coincidences. I suspect that some persons are Clair- 
voyant when asleep and dreaming who are not so when 
awake, and that therefore in their dreams they perceive 
things which seem like communications from spirits of 
another world, warning them of the death, or sickness, or 
treachery of friends, or of any thing else which concerns 
them : this would account for the truthfulness of some re- 
markable dreams. 

I also suspect that some persons are Clairvoyant in a 
peculiar and singular manner and at certain times, while at 
other times and in other modes they are not so. I know a 
lady who is not conskL "^d susceptible, and yet she has re- 
peatedly foretold the coming of friends at a certain hour, 
and declared in the most positive manner that she felt cer- 
tain (she knew not why) that they would arrive at a 
certain time, although letters had just been received stating 
that they would not come under several weeks ; yet she was 
right, and they actually arrived at the time she predicted. 
Once she arose in the morning and told a friend to his 
astonishment what he had been thinking about. It was a. 
subject upon which he had never uttered a word, and it 
was impossible for any one to conjecture that such a thing 
occupied his mind. This same lady frequently has an im- 
pression concerning the character or designs of her acquain- 
tances which is perfectly correct, but which can only be 
accounted for by a kind of peculiar and imperfect Clair- 
voyance. 

The impressions which some persons have had that 
they were to die at a certain time, may also be sometimes 



308 COMMUNION OF SPIRITS. 

derived from a species of Clairvoyant or abnormal percep- 
tion, producing what is called a presentiment. This 
subject is full of interest, and well deserves the attention 
of scientific and inquiring minds, but I cannot pursue it 
further at present. 



SECTION XVI. 



ABUSES OF ETHEROPATHY. 

The abuses of Etheropathy have been few as yet, but I 
feel bound to warn the unwary of the dangers to which they 
may be exposed. 

I have had many subjects, who, when to all appearance 
perfectly awake, would believe that a piece of blank paper 
was a bank note of any denomination which I asserted it to 
be. At Saratoga Spa, in the presence of Judge Marvin and 
many other gentlemen, I made a young man of excellent 
character take worthless waste paper for bank notes, and 
give me a written obligation for a large amount of money 
which he supposed he had received. Suppose him to be the 
cashier of a bank — would not this be a dangerous power in 
the hands of a dishonest man ? Or suppose him to be worth 
a large amount of property in real estate — he might be made 
to transfer it by deed in the presence of witnesses, while 
he was under this influence, and the witnesses not suspect 
that he was in a state different from usual. The witnesses 
would go into court and swear that he seemed perfectly ra- 
tional and master of himself, and yet he would be in such a 
condition that he could not perceive anything to be different 
from what it was asserted to be by the operator. Black 
would look white, if the operator declared it to be so. Cop- 
per would look and feel and sound like gold, if the operator 
affirmed it. In a word, the subject and all his property 
and other legal rights would be at the mercy of the operator. 



310 ABUSES OF 

He could be made to sign anything — a deed, or marriage 
contract — a confession of murder, or anything else. 

Others can judge as well as I how far this power will in 
future be abused ; but I perform my duty in giving a warn- 
ing to susceptible subjects. Let them not lightly disregard 
it. They should know that when once thoroughly inducted 
by one person they can easily be inducted by any person 
who is permitted to attempt it. They should know that they 
may be made to perform very improper actions without 
being aware of it, and without afterwards recollecting it. 
They should know that they may be made to commit actions 
which in the eye of the law are criminal, without really in- 
tending to do any wrong whatever. A woman may be made 
to believe that the operator is her father, or brother, or sis- 
ter, or husband, andshe will act accordingly ; and afterwards 
she will have no recollection excepting such as the operator 
pleases. It is my opinion, founded upon experiment, that 
one person in twenty is susceptible of this peculiar influence. 

It may be said, that this is dangerous knowledge and had 
better not be communicated publicly. I confess that it would 
be safer if it could be confined to the medical profession ; 
but this is impossible. It will necessarily be known to a 
sufficient number to render the knowledge dangerous. No- 
thing can prevent unprincipled and dishonest persons from 
gradually learning to avail themselves of this power to the 
injury of the unsuspecting. The only remedy is to let the 
public know at once the real nature of the power which the 
operator wills, and then every one will be upon his guard. 

In some European countries laws have been enacted for- 
bidding any person to practice Etheropathy, excepting re- 
gular medical professors or physicians, and I would respect- 
fully recommend some such enactment in this country, to 
protect the innocent from the consequences of their own ig- 
norance and the arts of accomplished knaves. 

I would also suggest the propriety of a law rendering any 



ETHEROPATHY. 311 

contract voidable which is made by an operator with a sub- 
ject, except when sanctioned by a physician in the presence 
of a magistrate. 

IMMORAL INDUCTION. 

There is another abuse of Etheropathy to which I deem 
it my duty to allude. I refer to the influence of immoral 
associates upon susceptible persons. I have in several in- 
stances seen persons whose organization indicated honesty, 
sobriety and virtue, but who w r ere notwithstanding reputed 
to be the very reverse. These persons were highly suscep- 
tible to Etheropathic influence, and having fallen into vicious 
society were unfortunately inducted and vitiated so as to 
conform to the will of their vicious companions. It is true 
that neither the subject nor the companions intended to pro- 
duce this result, nor even suspected the nature of the agent 
which was active between them ; perhaps neither of them 
ever heard of mesmerism, nor Etheropathy, nor animal 
magnetism, yet they unconsciously employed it, and the sub- 
ject was innocently inducted and seduced by its agency. I 
would therefore advise those who are aware of their suscep- 
tibility or that of their friends, especially the young, to avoid 
the society of those whose examples or conversation are of 
an immoral character. Vice and virtue are capable of being 
imbibed with wonderful facility by persons susceptible of 
etherean induction, and this fact being known may be of 
infinite service to some who would otherwise be ruined. 

Some observations which I have made incline me to the 
opinion that many persons are susceptible to abnormal in- 
duction of a peculiar kind, which has not hitherto been sus- 
pected to exist — an induction which is gradual and insidious, 
and the process of which is complicated. I would denomi- 
nate it gradual social induction. 

Many persons acquire the habits of their associates with 
a degree of facility which cannot be accounted for by their 
phreno-organic developments, the organs of Imitativeness 



312 ABUSES OF 

and Approbativeness, &c, being below medium, yet on trial 
they are not readily inducted in the ordinary manner, and 
are therefore not supposed to be susceptible persons. The 
fact is, that they are susceptible to gradual and continued in- 
duction, but not to sudden induction. They become inducted 
by long continuance in the society of persons of superior 
energy, and if they are young, a bias is thus given to their 
characters which becomes incorporated into their constitu- 
tions, never to be effaced. A thousand reflections naturally 
arise in the mind of any one, who feels an interest in the 
cause of education and of good morals, from the above con- 
siderations. We are more than ever impressed with the 
importance of selecting proper teachers and companions for 
the young, and of securing them from improper influences. 

Local Induction. 

I suspect that there is in some localities a greater tenden- 
cy to susceptibility than in others, and I have endeavored, 
though without much success, to ascertain the local causes 
of susceptibility. I have found blacksmiths, iron-workers 
and printers, more susceptible as a class than soldiers 
and farmers. Is it because those who work among metals 
become, in some degree, inducted by them ? I found that 
of thirty U. S. officers at West Point not one was susceptible. 
Is it on account of their habits of self-control, and of control- 
ling others ? their manly exercises ? their skeptical, mathe- 
matical, unimaginative education ? or is it all these causes 
combined ? I have often found persons susceptible in a high 
degree, who had injured their constitutions by habits of in- 
temperance. Why is this so ? On this point, as well as 
many others in Etherology, we need statistical information, 
derived from long continued and extended observations care- 
fully.made and recorded by a Society of Ethereans. 

Was not the Salem witchcraft caused in some measure by 
the food, or the state of the atmosphere ? Was it not an 



ETHEROPA.THY. 313 

endemic disease ? May not local causes, or diet, or occupa- 
tion, or medicine, have an important agency in producing 
susceptibility by weakening the isolation ? May not cer- 
tain kinds of medicine be discovered which may produce 
susceptibility' ? May not some diseases (especially those 
of the mind) have their origin in Etheropathic susceptibility 
and induction produced spontaneously, and may they not be 
cured by the same means ? These things deserve investi- 



14* 



SECTION XVII 



RULES FOR EXPERIMENTS. 

CREDE]NCIVE EXPERIMENTS. 

1. Tell the subject that you intend to operate upon him, 
and get his consent to it. 

2. Tell him that you are actually operating on him 

3. Perform some ceremonies which he supposes are 
essential to the success of the operation. 

4. Be serious, firm and kind, and assume a manner which 
prevents trifling, either on the part of the subject, or the 
persons who may be present. 

5. If the subject has any reluctance to submit to the 
operation, excuse him at once ; do not persuade him as if it 
is to do you a favor. Say but little to him except what is 
useful to the success of the operation. 

6. If the subject has a guardian, you had better not 
operate unless the guardian or loco parentis requests it, and 
during the operation, if any friends are alarmed, or begin to 
dictate, it is better to restore the subject and decline to 
operate upon him more ; but while you do operate, allow of 
no superior. A commanding imperativeness and firmness 
is as important in the operator, as conformity is in the 
subject. The operator should for the time be perfectly 
" master of his subject" and of every one else who is present, 
so far as to require order, and a conformity to regulations ; 
but the operator should in no case lose his temper or mani- 
fest any irritability ; his motto should be " mildly but firmly." 



EXPERIMENTS. 315 

7. Let the subject sit down in a common chair without 
resting his head. Let him incline his head slightly forward, 
close his eyes, and keep them gently closed. Let him not 
speak, nor move unless it is necessary to his comfort. Let 
him not cross his legs, as it will interrupt the circulation. 

S. Sit down before him and take hold of his hands in any 
way you please, provided it conveys to the subject the im- 
pression that you are making an effort to affect him, and that 
your taking hold is a useful part of the operation. 

9. You may sit thus before some persons an hour, with- 
out perceiving any effect whatever, and afterwards succeed ; 
but, as a general rule, more than fifteen minutes is a waste of 
time. The first symptoms which subjects exhibit, are 
various, and often depend upon their fancy, their previous 
knowledge or reading, or what they have heard is the first 
effect. But there are some symptoms which are evidently 
involuntary — one is a slight tremor, which sometimes, 
though rarely, is increased to convulsive twitchings. If the 
convulsions become alarming, the operator should never 
lose his coolness and self-command under any circumstances, 
but rouse the subject and restore him. I have never had 
but two such cases, and both were caused by previous 
nervous disease. Another common and favorable symptom 
is the breaking out of perspiration, which is of course in- 
voluntary. Another symptom is that when the operator 
places his hands upon the top of the head and passes them 
down to the shoulders, the subject breathes louder every 
time you do so. In some cases none of these symptoms 
are exhibited, and yet the subject is perfectly inducted in 
five minutes. 

10. When you wish to ascertain whether you have suc- 
ceeded in inducting the subject, press your fore-finger on the 
forehead where it joins the nose, or press one finger on one 
eye-brow and another finger on the other brow, and, in a 
low voice, say to the subject, " you cannot open your eyes" 



316 RULES FOR 

and if he is sufficiently affected, he cannot open them ; he is 
not asleep, and, perhaps, he had no idea till this moment 
that he was in any degree affected. Now tell him to open 
his eyes and to put his hands together ; lay your finger 
across them and say," you cannot get your hands apart," and 
he cannot ; or, perhaps, he can with a great effort. Now tell 
him to extend his arm, and when he has done so, tell him 
that he cannot put it down, and he cannot. If he is well 
inducted, you may tell him that he cannot step, or speak, 
or see, or hear, or taste, and he cannot do it. Tell him that 
water is rum, or ink, or hot, or cold. Tell him that black is 
white, that he cannot lift a feather, or a penny, and it will 
seem so to him. Tell him that a cent is gold, or silver, and 
he will receive it as such, and give you the change. Tell 
him that he is a negro, a female, a dog, a fish, a post, a 
steam-engine — that his head is a coffee-mill — that he is 
Richard, Hamlet, Jackson, Clay, or what you please, and 
he is transformed instantly and verily believes your asser- 
tion to be true. Tell him that he can walk until he gets 
to such a line, but cannot pass over it, and he cannot. 

11. If any other person besides the operator makes the 
assertion, it has no effect ; but if the operator says to the sub- 
ject — " such a person has influence over you," then the person 
or persons mentioned can influence the subject in the same 
manner. 

12. There is considerable difference in subjects in respect 
to how far the delusion can be carried — some cannot open 
their eyes, or step, or move any muscle, yet they cannot be 
deceived concerning colors, or their own identity ; some can 
only be deluded in one way, and some can in all ways, 

13. The influence will pass off from some subjects within 
five minutes and cannot be regained, but in most cases it con- 
tinues several hours and in many cases several days. I have 
made them stop in the street, a week after induction, by a 
single word. 



EXPERIMENTS. 317 

14. A large majority of those persons who have ever 
been inducted or mesmerized in the usual way, can be made 
to perform these experiments when perfectly awake, and 
when no one would suppose from their appearance that they 
were in any degree affected or under any peculiar influence. 
Five minutes are enough to induct them sufficiently for this 
purpose. 

15. Any person acquainted with Ether opathy, can feign 
and imitate all these experiments, so that no sagacity can 
detect it. The reality of the whole matter can be proved 
only by the testimony of the subject himself. If he is am- 
bitious to enjoy the character of an impostor, he may be 
gratified by first becoming a liar. When the subject says 
that he cannot open his eyes, and pledges his honor to the 
truth of his assertion, the only way is to assume that you 
believe him. If you doubt him, it is better not to tell him 
nor any one else of your doubts : you may do him injustice. 
Let every one present judge for himself. The operator 
should never say that he knows that the subject is not de- 
ceiving, he should only answer for himself — for his own 
integrity. He may say, if he thinks proper, what he knows 
about the character of the subject for truth and honesty ; but 
he cannot truly say that the subject is not deceiving, and he 
should not risk his own reputation by doing so. 

16. The advantage in performing Credencive experi- 
ments, is, that they are successful upon about one person in 
twelve or twenty throughout any community ; so that it is 
easy for any persevering man to convince the community, 
where he happens to be, of the truth of Etheropathy by the 
testimony of their own citizens. Sometimes it will happen 
that the first persons attempted are found susceptible, and 
again fifty may be tried in vain. I find that about five in 
every six are slightly affected, so that I can perceive it my- 
self, but not more than one in twelve or twenty will manifest 
the Credencive experiments perfectly. 



318 RULES FOR 

17. If a whole audience consents to be tried, the operator 
has only to say to them, that if there is any one among them 
who is susceptible he will be affected while the operator is 
lecturing, or doing something else — and every one in the 
room who is both susceptible and rather Credencive will be 
affected accordingly. The success of this experiment de- 
pends upon the character of the audience and the tact of the 
operator. It is better to say, that those who are willing to 
be inducted may occupy certain reserved seats — this will 
prevent the rest from becoming alarmed and leaving the 
room. 

18. The success of Credencive experiments is greatly re- 
tarded by the presence and hostile conduct of skeptics, and 
of proud, imperious and contemptuous persons, or any per- 
sons who do not conceal their incredulity. 

EXPERIMENTS IN SOMNAMBULISM. 

19. If the subject seems to be in a high degree suscepti- 
ble, so as to be inclined to go to sleep, let him alone awhile, 
and then ask him if he is asleep ; if he says that he is 
asleep, then he is so ; but if not, ask him if he is going to 
sleep ; if he says yes, then tell him to go to sleep^ and wait 
a while longer, then ask him the questions again as before, 
until he says he is asleep. 

20. When the subject is asleep, ask him concerning his 
health and the health of yourself, and your peculiar feel- 
ings. Pinch your own hand, and see if he shrinks as if it 
were his own hand. Taste of something, and ask him what 
he tastes. Move your features and limbs, and see if he 
does the same. Ask him who else is in the room, or who 
is in the next room. If he cannot answer any of these 
questions in a satisfactory manner, he is not in a Clairvoyant 
nor sympathetic state. 

21. Tell the subject to open his eyes without waking, 
and they will generally do so. If the subject is skillful in 



EXPERIMENTS. 319 

any thing in his ordinary state, he will be much more so 
now. He will sing, or paint, or dance, or declaim better 
than ever and with less embarrassment ; but he is apt to 
become sleepy. I have found that such- performances are 
best when the subject is awake, but under Credencive in- 
fluence. 

22. When you restore the subject, look him in the eye, 
and tell him not to have any head-ache, nor tremor, nor 
sickness, nor rheumatism, nor melancholy, &c, and he 
generally will not, as long as the influence remains in any 
degree. 

EXPERIMENTS UPON DISEASED PERSONS 

23. If the person to be operated upon is affected with 
some disease, and the object is to effect a cure, you should 
begin by making yourself acquainted with the history and 
symptoms of the case, and, if convenient, consult with a 
physician, before proceeding to induct him. 

24. Get rid, if possible, of all curious and inquisitive per- 
sons, and those who have never seen experiments. It is 
better still, if you can have the room exclusively for the 
use of yourself and your patient. 

25. Whatever effect you wish to produce, tell the patient 
that it will probably be produced, if he is in a proper state 
of susceptibility and of conformity. Tell him not to trouble 
his mind by trying to be affected, but to merely keep his 
mind upon the probability that he will. 

26. After having tried fifteen minutes, if you find you 
have produced no apparent effect, tell the subject that you 
have affected him in some degree, and that by repeating the 
operation several times, his debility will be relieved. For 
it is undoubtedly true, that a healthy person always benefits 
a debilitated one. 

27. If you find that you have a Credencive control over 
the patient, assert that his disease is cured, or that it is 



320 RULES FOR 

relieved, as the case may require. If his disease is local, 
make local passes and applications, and assert that they 
will certainly be efficacious, and they generally -will be so. 

28. If the subject is much inducted and under perfect 
control, no other medicine is necessary ; though the medicine 
may be taken if the physician insists upon it, and the oper- 
ator can generally modify its effects at his pleasure. 

29. If the patient is but little affected and the influence 
acquired is but slight, then medicines must be used as usual ; 
but the medicines may be inducted in the presence of the 
subject, and he himself may be inducted also and told that 
the medicines will have a favorable effect, and they will 
actually have a much more beneficial effect than if no such 
ceremonies were performed. 

30. Electricity may be applied to a slightly inducted 
subject and have much more effect upon him, to cure him, 
than if he is not inducted. 

31. A Magneto-Electric contrivance is now in use, in 
which a current of Electricity is interrupted for an instant, 
and then continued, and then interrupted again, in such a 
way as to cause a rapid succession of slight shocks to be 
produced in any part of the head or body desired. This 
method of using Electricity was first introduced in Germa- 
ny. In this country, I believe, the present most approved 
machines were first manufactured and are still made and sold 
by Benjamin Pike, Jr., 294 Broadway, N. Y. The ma- 
chines used by Dr. Sherwood are in imitation of Mr. Pike's. 
Dr. Sherwood professes to mesmerize with his machine, but 
this is probably an error into which the Dr. has been led by 
effects which were produced by Credencive induction. 

32. Electricity is often useful in those cases where the 
nerves have ceased to perform their function with proper 
vigor, and I would advise its use when mesmeric induction 
fails to produce sufficient effect. It may be used in addition 



EXPERIMENTS. 321 

to the mesmeric induction, and thus render essential ser- 
vice in the hands of a skillful person. 

33. If a subject is Clairvoyant, and in that state gives ad- 
vice and prescribes medicine, I would recommend you to 
apply to a physician and get his consent before following 
the direction of the Clairvoyant. 

34. It is my opinion (though I advance it with diffidence) 
that Homeopathy produces its cures by the aid of Creden- 
cive induction ; for it is certain that if a subject is in a very 
slight degree inducted, it requires much less medicine to 
produce a given effect than when he is in the normal con- 
dition. 



SECTION XVIII. 



INDUCTION OF BRUTE ANIMALS. 

It is seldom, if ever, that brute animals can be inducted 
so as to present the phenomena of Etheropathy. One 
reason why they are not as susceptible as man, is, that they 
are deficient in Credenciveness ; and this is doubtless also 
one reason why infants and idiots are rarely as suscepti- 
ble as other persons. We perceive here the necessity of 
making a broad distinction between Credencive induction 
and external induction. Animals, infants and idiots cannot 
be affected by their own Credencive imaginations, as those . 
of superior intellect often are. Whenever, therefore, they 
are actually affected, it must be by forces actually evolved 
from the operator. 

There are so many traditions and anecdotes relating to the 
charming power of serpents, that it scarcely seems fair to 
get rid of them by resorting to a skeptical denial of the 
authenticity of the statements, especially when they are 
found to harmonize so perfectly with analogous facts in the 
history of man. Some suppose that the existence of the 
power ascribed to animals, of charming birds, toads, &c, 
is perfectly disproved, because, when serpents have been 
confined in cages, they could never be made to charm the 
birds which were placed near them for the very purpose. 
But it should be remembered, that among men few try to 
exert this power, and few persons among those tried are 
found sufficiently susceptible to manifest that perfect con- 
formity to the will of the operator, which it is said birds 



BRUTE ANIMALS. 3.23 

sometimes exhibit when spell-bound by the fascination of 
the serpent. 

It is even supposed by many, that serpents have the 
power to charm human beings ; and I can readily admit, 
that if it is true that one animal is capable of exerting this 
influence over another animal, he might also exert it over 
a human being, more especially if the person influenced 
actually believed in the power of the serpent. 

Gen. Morris has embodied the spirit, both of tradition 
and philosophy, on this subject, in a song which he has 
introduced into his " Maid of Saxony." 

" When I behold that lowering brow, 

Which indicates the mind within, 
I marvel much that woman's vow 

A man like that could ever win. 
Yet, it is said, in rustic bower — 

The fable 1 have often heard — 
A serpent has mysterious power 

To captivate a timid bird. 

" This moral then I sadly trace, 

That love's a fluttering thing of air ; 
And yonder stands the viper base 

Who would my timid bird ensnare. 
'Twas in the shade of Eden's bower 

This fascination had its birth, 
And even there possessed the power 

To lure the paragon of earth." 

Another reason, it may be presumed, why brutes are not 
more susceptible, is, that the isolation is more perfect in 
them. Isolation is a principle of all organized beings, 
vegetable and animal, without which they could not main- 
tain their independent existence and identity ; and, like 
every other principle which is common to all organized 
beings, it is found in greater perfection the lower we 
descend in the scale. 



324 INDUCTION OF 

I have never tried but one experiment of this kind which 
is worth mentioning and that was upon a cat. I found that 
when I put my finger within an inch of her ear, she felt it 
although I was certain she could not see it, and she made a 
motion of the ear as if I had touched it. It occurred to me 
that this might be common electricity, with which these 
creatures are generally so much charged. I also noticed 
some very slight movements of the muscles as I passed my 
fingers over her limbs without touching them, her eyes be- 
ing closed at the time. It is really worth some trouble to 
ascertain whether brute animals can be decidedly affected ; 
I am free to confess that I am not at present satisfied on this 
point. Mr. Lang has given us some extracts from a work 
published in 1839, by|Dr. Wilson, physician to the Middle- 
sex Hospital, Eng., by which it appears that he has tried 
experiments with a wonderful patience and perseverance 
upon various animals. The account is given with much 
simplicity and apparent honesty, but it strikes me as ex- 
ceedingly ludicrous. It is not easy to realize that he is 
perfectly serious in his statements ; and when we are satis- 
fied that he is quite in earnest, it is equally difficult to avoid 
a suspicion that he has allowed himself to be misled by his 
extraordinary enthusiasm. His experiments are, however, 
quite as rational, if not more so, than those of Dr. Buchanan, 
or Mr. Sunderland, or Mr. Spencer T. Hall. Mr. Lang 
introduces the extracts from the work of Dr. Philips with 
approbation. He says, — 

" The Rev. Mr. Townsend, Mr. Braid and other writers, allude 
in general terms to the fact of Mesmerism having been tried on 
the brute creation. 

" Dr. Elliotson is reported to have stated at a meeting of the 
London Phrenological Society, that the Duke of Marlborough had 
informed him that while at the Marquis of Ely's seat in Ireland, 
and strolling out in the morning, he came upon a very ferocious 
dog, chained in a farm-yard. The Duke durst not approach, but 



BRUTE ANIMALS. 325 

standing at a respectable distance Mesmerized him, and going up, 
actually embraced the sleeping animal. 

" Mr. Borrow, in his fascinating work, ' The Bible in Spain,' re- 
lates that he averted in an analogous manner the attack of a large 
dog which flew at him. 

" The only regular series of experiments on brutes, of which, 
so far as we are aware, any account has been given to the world, 
were those performed by Dr. Wilson, physician to the Middlesex 
Hospital. As Dr. Wilson's work* is but ltttle known among 
general readers, we trust it is unnecessary to make any apology 
for drawing pretty largely upon its pages. Dr. Wilson states, 
that having applied Mesmerism with the most beneficial effects 
upon several of his patients, he nevertheless felt himself restrained 
from proceeding further, and was induced by various considera- 
tions to institute some experiments, with the view of ascertaining 
what effects could be produced by it upon the brute creation. He 
goes on to say : — 

" ■ My first experiments on animals were made on cats, but as 
they were more or less connected with the cases of my patients 
which I have not entered upon here, I may briefly notice that 
many experiments were made on four cats and kittens, at intervals, 
from the 16th I\ lay to the 3d October, 1838, and each of them 
was put to sleep at the first trial ; and ultimately I was able to put 
first one and then another to sleep, and at the end to leave three 
sleeping together, being as many as could ordinarily be brought 
together at once. 

" ' One of these, a torn, the first of them that was magnetised, and 
on which that operation had been most frequently repeated, be- 
came easily and strongly influenced by them, so that he has been 
pulled about, lifted up by the nape of the neck, and the ears tick- 
led with a pen, during which he would remain motionless, and the 
cat was then said to be in a state of catalepsy ; sometimes when 
lifted up by the head or tail, the eyes might partially open without 
the limbs moving, and when dropped down, the eyes again closed, 
and he continued to sleep, without making any effort to move 
from the place where he had been dropped. 



* Trials of Animal Magnetism on the Brute Creation. By John 
Wilson-, Physician to the Middlesex Hospital. London : Sherwood, 
Gilbert and Piper: 1639. 



326 INDUCTION OF 

" ' My other experiments at the following places were not carried 
to the same extent, as I was generally satisfied to cease the opera- 
tions as soon as sleep came on. ' 

" Dr. Wilson's work is in the form of a journal, from which we 
proceed to extract as follows : — 

" 'September 26, 1838. — White Will, a torn cat, age about a year. 
Kitty, a female ca,t, tortoise-shell, eight months. Fuzzy, a female 
cat, French, two months. Vick, a female terrier, six months. 

" ' Made the passes on Kitty and Fuzzy, on my lap, both for the 
first time, and both were put to sleep in about a quarter of an hour. 

" ' September 28. — Magnetised Fuzzy and Vick on the hearth-rug. 
Both were put to sleep in five minutes, and both slept an hour and 
a half; being the first trial on Vick and the second on Fuzzy. 
Afterwards White Will was magnetised on the rug ; in about ten 
minutes or more he was put to sleep, and Vick coming in the way 
and annoying White Will, 1 directed the passes towards her at the 
same time that I was acting on White Will, and again, after be- 
coming very irritable, and biting the fender, she was put to sleep. 
Both awoke on some one coming into the room. 

" ■ The same morning I made passes on a drake and three ducks. 
They w T ere difficult of approach at first, but they soon became 
quiet, and allowed themselves to be acted on in a mass, with my 
hands quite close to their heads ; at other times they became very 
restless, struggled, and bit each other's necks, and tried to escape, 
as it were, from the passes; the wings of all, but those of the 
drake in particular, made convulsive twitchings as the hand moved 
over them. One or two became apparently drowsy, eyes half closed, 
and sat down two or three times. One or two yawned at different 
times. The time occupied was about half an hour, when 1 was 
obliged to go away. 

" ' About a month after the last passes were made one of the 
ducks died ; and a fortnight after that the drake died. The cause 
of their deaths was not known. They did not die suddenly, but 
were said to have pined away gradually. 

" * October 19. — Had a dozen fish, (roach, dace, gudgeons and 
loach,) from one to three ounces in weight, caught in the Thames 
this morning. Passes being made on them when in a large tub of 
water, they soon came to the top of the water, put their noses out, 
and allowed me to touch their heads, stroke them down the backs, 



BRUTE ANIMALS. 327 

and pop their heads under the water, when they came to the top 
again immediately, and, instead of seeming afraid of the motion of 
my hand, they appeared more desirous of getting near to it than 
avoiding it. 

" < October 29. — Put a Bantam cock with a Bantam hen under the 
cage, near to a she-goat, eighteen months old, when William and 
I both made passes together, and separately, for more than half an 
hour before the goat was put to sleep, and then only slightly. The 
cock at first chuckled, and made much noise ; then he became 
quiet, and remained so ; sometimes sat down and closed his eyes ; 
but towards the end he stood upright for a considerable time like a 
statue, and neither moved head nor foot ; and when the cage was 
taken away, he moved not in the least, allowed me to touch and 
pull his comb and gills, and to stroke him down without making 
the least movement of his feet, head, or neck. As night was com- 
ing on, he was brought in, and placed before the kitchen fire, 
where there were dogs near to him, and the same teasing means 
were repeated with like results, when he began to evince sensation 
and motion by degrees, and finally aroused up, and clawed my 
hands. The hen was somewhat similarly affected, but in a much 
less marked manner. It will be observed that it was about their 
roosting time. 

" ' October 28. — At twelve o'clock, made passes at a distance on 
a wild, fierce, Chinese gander and a common goose, and they grad- 
ually allowed me to approach them though they were at large iu 
the farm-yard ; and when the gander let me come up to him to 
make the passes close along his head and neck, his neck quivered 
obedient to the passes, which quiverings I stopped and renewed at 
pleasure. I could touch and stroke his head and neck as I wished : 
he remained a quarter of an hour erect, with his head raised in the 
air, and never, during that time, once moved a foot. He frequently 
gaped during the whole time, as well as the goose ; and, when he 
seemed most susceptible, kept continually uttering a sort of plain- 
tive noise as the passes were made. 

" ' The goose made no noise. At last 1 directed the passes from 
the head of the gander to the head of the goose, and then the goose's 
neck quivered : it lay down several times, held its head down, and 
put it under some wood, while I continued the passes down its neck. 



328 INDUCTION OF 

I did not notice its eyes being closed. The gander never lay- 
down.' 

" The following experiments were made at a third station The 
notes, at the time of trying to affect two pigs of a large breed, were 
drawn up, Dr. Wilson states, by a spectator : — 

" « July 21,1838.— The pigs were about nine months old, healthy, 
fat and very lively. The sty in which they were confined con- 
sisted of two parts — a small oblong court uncovered, and an inner 
sty roofed, and partly boarded in front. They were magnetised 
across the outer court into the inclosed sty, at the door of which 
they presented their heads ; about half an hour after, they began 
to sweat about the ears and neck, and to utter a peculiar shrill 
plaintive squeak. After being operated upon for about an hour, 
one of them lay down ; and the other, though standing, suffered 
the operator to enter the inner sty, and magnetise them quite close, 
without their being disturbed.' 

" The following experiments were made in the Zoological Gar- 
dens, Surrey, on two Ceylon elephants, male and female, Rajah and 
Hadgee, each about ten years old, and both kept together in the 
same stall. 

" ' March 13, 1839. — Began the passes along the head and trunk 
(proboscis) of the female elephant, Hadgee, as she stood ; in about 
five minutes she curved her trunk, previous to raising her head, to 
strike me with the trunk ; which the keeper noticing, warned me 
of what she was preparing to do, so that afterwards I kept at a 
distance where she could not hit me with her trunk, though several 
times she attempted to do so, by raising her head and lashing out 
her trunk at the same time. Twice she turned her back on me, 
but I continued the passes. Once she struck her hind-leg out to- 
wards me ; she also yawned several times : the striking her trunk 
out, with the design of hitting a stranger, was unusual with her. 
Time of operation, a quarter of an hour, when, strangers coming 
in, it was discontinued. 

" ' Then I went to see the other wild beasts fed, but found that 
they had already begun feeding. As I stopped before a lioness, 
lying down tearing a half devoured joint, which she held between 
her paws, and growling at me, I began making passes towards her 
head ; she very soon, almost immediately, ceased eating, grasped 
the joint between her jaws, and ceased growling ; her eyes began 



BRUTE ANIMALS. 329 

to twinkle, and soon closed at times, for short intervals ; when 
some strangers came up, and asked me how it was that I seemed 
to affect the lioness. I gave them an evasive reply, in hopes of 
their going away, and ceased the passes, but held my hands out a 
little towards her, as she continued in the same position ; hut her 
eyes were much less closed than when I made the passes. After 
these visitors went, I renewed the passes ; when other visitors 
came, and again I ceased, and held my hands out steadily before 
me ; she then got up and walked about, and then lay down again. 
As the company remained standing there, I ceased all trials and 
retired, as the lioness began to tear the joint, after having retained 
it full twenty minutes in her mouth, without once relaxing hold of 
it.' 

" After giving the details of several experiments. Dr. Wilson 
concludes — 

" c No further trials were made on the elephants and other wild 
beasts, from my unwillingness to carry the experiments beyond a 
certain point ; for I had no means of judging what the consequences 
might be, should such animals as the elephants, and other beasts? 
after repetitions of Magnetism, get into the irritable stage, or should 
they, after being put to sleep, pass into the state of somnambulism 
or delirium.' " 



15 



APPENDIX 



EXPRESSIONS OF OPINION. 

Union College, October 23, 1844. 
Prof. J. Stanley Grimes : 

Dear Sir — At the conclusion of your lectures, just delivered 
before a portion of the students of this Institution, a meeting o 
the class was duly organized, and the following resolutions were 
adopted, as expressive of their sentiments in reference to your 
lectures. 

Resolved, That we have listened with deep interest and the 
highest satisfaction, to the series of lectures on the Philosophy of 
Mesmerism, just delivered before us by Mr. Grimes, and that we 
unanimously concur in tendering to him this testimony of our 
approbation and respect. 

Resolved, That the experiments delivered before us, have with- 
out exception been of such a character — the subjects being our 
fellow, students and classmates, known to us to be men of intelli- 
gence, firmness, and Christian integrity — as to forbid a doubt of the 
facts, and leave us not the slightest ground for skepticism. 

Resolved, That so far as we are competent to judge, the theory 
of Mesmerism, as presented by Mr. Grimes, is not only novel and 
excitingly interesting, but in perfect accordance with admitted 
principles of science. 

Resolved, That should Mr. Grimes, as we understand it is his 



332 APPENDIX. 

intention to do, publish to the world his views upon this subject, 
we believe they will meet with that favor from the public, and 
from men of science in particular, which, in our judgment at least, 
their present novely demands. 

Resolved, That wherever Mr. Grimes may go, we would respect- 
fully solicit for him a candid hearing from an enlightened public, 
feeling assured that their experience will accord with our own, 
and prejudice give place to conviction, and skepticism to confirmed 
belief. 

Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be presented to Mr. 
Grimes, to be used according to his discretion. 

A. NEVVKIRK LITTLEJOHN, Chairman. 



Report on the Phrenological Classification of J. Stanley Grimes. 
By E. N. Horsford, Professor of Natural History and Mathema- 
tics in the Albany Female Academy. Adopted by the Albany Phre- 
nological Society, September 3, 1840. 

" The committee to whom was referred the letter of Mr. Grimes, 
requesting an examination of his classification, as exhibited in his 
" New System of Phrenology," and a comparison of it with the 
classification of Dr. Spurzheim, beg leave to submit the following 
Report : — 

" The importance of arranging the principles of a science in ac- 
cordance with the laws of natural relationship, has been recognized 
from the days of the earliest philosophers to the present time. It 
has been acknowledged in astronomy, geology, and the other 
branches of natural science. The productions of the great men in 
these several departments of investigation are the monuments of a 
desire to improve and perfect classification. A like feeling has 
been manifested by writers upon the powers of the mind. Suc- 
ceeding generations, enlightened by discoveries, and quickened 
thereby to the perception of defects in previous systems, attempted 
improvements ; and the whole history of mental philosophy, from 
Pythagoras to the commencement of the last century, is but little 
more than the record of changes in nomenclature and arrangement 
of the attributes of mind. 

" The actual discovery of twenty-six of the fundamental facul- 



APPENDIX. 333 

ties of the mind, and the organs ihrough which they manifested 
themselves, was the first great step towards a proper classification. 
But the life of Dr. Gall was too short for the labor of founding and 
perfecting a science. Although he speaks of propensities, mechanical 
aptitudes, intellectual dispositions, and moral qualities ; yet, besides 
the record of his invaluable discoveries, he has left us little more 
than a simple arrangement of the powers. In this he seems to have 
been guided merely by the relative position of the organs, commen- 
cing at the base, and proceeding regularly to the top. Accordingly, 
Amativeness is placed first, and Firmness last ; while Cautiousness 
and Educabiiity (Individuality and Eventuality of Spurzheim,) are 
associated together. Dr. Gall maintained that all the faculties 
have the same modes of action ; and that a separation of them into 
two orders, founded upon their different modes of action, could not 
be made. Dr. Spurzheim, however, guided by the accumulated 
opinions of philosophers who had gone before him, was enabled to 
recognize two distinct classes of powers ; and the two orders of 
Affective and Intellectual Facultifs proposed by him, have 
received the sanction of the greater portion of the phrenological 
world. Dr. Spurzheim maintained that perception, memory, and 
imagination, are attributes of the Intellect, and that the affective 
faculties have sensation alone. These views were rejected by 
Gall. Dr. Spurzheim divided the Affective Faculties into Propen- 
sities, or those internal impulses which invite to certain actions, 
and Sentiments, which, besides inviting to certain actions, are 
attended when active by a peculiar emotion. 

The Intellectual Faculties he subdivided into four genera : the 
external senses ; the faculties which perceive existence and physi- 
cal qualities ; those which perceive the relations of external ob- 
jects ; and the reflecting faculties. The following is Dr. Spurz- 
heim's classification, as drawn out in Mr. Combe's last work. 

ORDER I. — FEELINGS. 

GENUS I. PHOr-ENSITIES. 



1. 


Amativeness, 


6. 


Destructiveness, 


2. 


Philoprogenitiveness, 


* 


Alimentiveness, 


3. 


Concentrativeness, or In- 


t 


Love of Life, 




habitiveness, 


7. 


Secretiveness, 


4. 


Adhesiveness, 


8. 


Acquisitiveness, 


5. 


Combativeness. 


9. 


Constructiveness. 



334 APPENDIX. 

GENUS II. — SENTIMENTS. 

I. Sentiments common to man with lower animals. 

10. Self-esteem, 12. Cautiousness, 

11. Approbativeness, 

11. Sentiments proper to man. 

13. Benevolence, 18. Wonder, 

14. Veneration, 19. Ideality, 

15. Firmness, 20. Miithfulness, 

16. Conscientiousness, 21. Imitation. 
17 Hope, 

ORDER II.— INTELLECTUAL FACULTIES. 

GENUS I. EXTERNAL SENSES. 

Feeling, or Touch, Hearing, 

Taste, Sight. 

Smell, 

GENUS II. INTELLECTUAL FACULTIES, 

Which perceive existence and physical qualities. 

22. Individuality, • 25. Weight, 

23. Form, 26. Coloring. 

24. Size, 

GENUS III. INTELLECTUAL FACULTIES, 

JVJiich perceive relations of external objects. 

27. Locality, 31. Time, 

28. Number, 32. Tune, 

29. Order, 33. Language. 

30. Eventuality, 

GENUS IV. REFLECTING FACULTIES. 

34. Comparison, 35. Causality. 

In expressiug an opinion upon the merits of this classification, 
the committee feel deeply the responsibility of their situation. The 
work of a profoundly analytical mind is before them ; and with 
scarcely an alteration, it has received the sanction of the most dis- 
tinguished advocates of the science, in Britain, France and America. 
It is the standard classification ; it is one of the many monuments 
of a distinguished genius, and we are bound to revere it. The 
committee are also aware, that the ultimate functions of all the 
powers are not yet established, and that there is still a broad field 



APPENDIX. 335 

for discovery. Nevertheless, the following quotations from Spurz- 
heim and Combe, show not only their own consciousness of im- 
perfections in this classification, but appear to point out to us the 
path we should pursue. ' If,' says Spurzheim, ' under any head 
of the nomenclature, there be a better name than I employ, * * 

* * I shall be glad to use it ; for I am always disposed to ac- 
knowledge truth, and obey real improvement.' ' It appears im- 
possible,' says Mr. Combe, ' to arrive at a correct classification 
until all the organs, and also the primitive faculty or ultimate 
function of each, shall be definitely ascertained, which is not at 
present the case. Till this end shall be accomplished, every in- 
terim arrangement will be in danger of being overturned by subse- 
quent discoveries.' 

" From these remarks, the duty of pointing out defects, that in 
the very nature of things belong to progressive science, when ne- 
cessary to the exhibition of improvement, becomes abundantly ap- 
parent. 

' ; Dr. Spurzheim's first division into Intellectual and Affective 
Faculties, is the link by which phrenology is attached to the men- 
tal philosophy of the old school. His division of the affective fac- 
ulties into propensities and sentiments, nearly corresponds with 
Brown's Prospective and Immediate Emotions. It is based upon 
a conceived difference in their attributes. " Propensities," Spurz- 
heim remarks, " invite only to certain actions ;" but sentiments are 
not limited to inclination alone; " they have an emotion of a pe- 
culiar kind superadded." After comparing the views of writers 
who have recognized this distinction with the actual manifestations 
of the affective powers, the committee are unable to believe that 
grounds for this division exist. Each of these faculties has its own 
sphere of action, but some of the spheres are higher than others. 
Philoprogenitiveness has its nursery ; Adhesiveness its limited 
circle of friends ; and Benevolence, the entire world. Alimentive- 
ness impels attention to the wants of the nutritive system ; Cau- 
tiousness induces general guardianship over both the corporeal 
and mental constitutions ; and Hope excites to action under bright 
views of a cloudless future. When these powers are aroused 
by their appropriate stimuli, their activity is attended in all by a 
feeling or an emotion, differing in the different faculties as widely 
as the spheres in which they act. 



336 APPENDIX. 

" Now that, to Benevolence and the group of powers with which 
it is associated, this attribute should be extended, while to Adhe- 
siveness and the whole genus of animal propensities it is denied, 
is considered a position unfounded in nature. 

" The subdivision into sentiments common to man and the low- 
er animals and those proper to man, is very clearly defective. 
Spurzheim has given drawings showing that some dogs and horses 
have a developement of Benevolence ; and Gall remarked that 
lions were more full in the region of this organ than tigers. Imi- 
tation is admitted by Spurzheim to be a faculty of some of the 
monkey tribe ; and Mr. Combe remarks, that the organ is found 
in the brains of both parrots and monkeys. It has also been sug- 
gested, that the proverbial stubbornness of asses has its source in 
Firmness. These examples show that the last division, though it 
may be convenient, is not strictly philosophical. In the genus 
animal propensities, Spurzheim has classed together .powers, at 
least as little associated as are the superior and inferior sentiments. 
Alimentiveness, a faculty related exclusively to the individual, is 
placed beside Amativeness and Philoprogenitiveness, which are 
clearly related to the species. In the arrangement of the intellectual 
faculties, Language,* one of the lowest organs, and one which, ac- 
cording to Bessieres, becomes fibrous immediately after Individu- 
ality and Form, is elevated to a place directly below the reflectives. 

" Mr. Grimes' classification, as presented in his ' New System of 
Phrenology,' retains Spurzheim's first division of the powers of the 
mind under the heads of Propensities and Intellectual Facul- 
ties. The Propensities he divides into two classes, which he 
denominates Ipseal and Social. He denies the distinction between 
propensities and sentiments maintained by Spurzheim. His classi- 
fication follows : — 

CLASS I. 
Ipseal, or Self-Relative Propensities. * 

CLASS II. 
Social, or Society-Relative Propensities. 

CLASS III. 
Intellectual, or Knowledge-Relative Faculties. 

* I consider this the organ of Sound. 



APPENDIX. 337 

CLASS I.— IPSEALS. 
1. Corporeal Range. 

1. Pneumativeness, 3. Sanativeness. 

2. Alimentiveness, 

2. Carnivorous Range 

4. Destructiveness, 5. Combativeness. 

3. Herbivorous Range. 

6. Secretiveness, 7. Cautiousness. 

4. Rodentia Range. 

8. Constructiveness, 9. Acquisitiveness. 

5. Human Range. 

10. Playfulness, 12. Hopefulness. 

11. Perfectiveness, 

CLASS II.— SOCIALS. 
Establishing Group. 

1. Amativeness, 3. Inhabitiveness, 

2. Parentiveness, 4. Adhesiveness. 

Governing Group. 

5. Imperativeness, 7. Firmness, 

6. Approbativeness, 8. Conscientiousness. 

Conforming Group. 

9. Submissiveness, . 11. Imitativeness, 
10. Kindness, 12. Credenciveness. 

' CLASS 111.— INTELLECTUALS. 
Lower Range. 

1. Individuality, 5. Size, 

2. Chemicality, 6. Weight, 

3. Language, 7. Color, 
* 4. Form, 8. Order, 

9. Number. 
Middle Range. 

10. Direction, 12. Time, 

11. Eventuality, 13. Tune. 

Upper Range. 
14. Comparison, 15. Causality. 

" This division into three classes, Ipseal, Social and Intellectual, 
is founded," says the author, « upon the following considerations : 
15* 



338 APPENDIX. 

" ' First. Anatomy points to three grand divisions. 

" ' 1. The spinal cord is in three columns, anterior, middle and 
posterior ; and Mr. Charles Bell demonstrated that all the nerves 
which proceed from one column are destined to perform one class 
of functions. The nerves from the anterior column are for volition ; 
those from the middle for respiration aud nutrition ; and those from 
the posterior for sensation. 

" ' 2. The medulla oblongata, Mr. Bell considered as a continua- 
tion of the same three columns of the spinal cord. It has three 
bodies, 

The pyramidal, in the anterior ; 
The olivary, in the middle, and 
The restiform in the posterior column. 

" ' 3. The brain has always been divided into three lobes — ante- 
rior, middle and posterior — and the division may be found strongly 
marked in the brains of all the higher animals. Spurzheim found 
by dissection, that the fibres of the anterior pyramidal bodies of the 
oblongata expanded into and constituted the anterior lobes of the 
brain. And he contended that the middle and posterior lobes orig- 
inated in the other two parts of the oblongata. 

" ' 4. Each hemisphere has a great lateral ventricle, and this ven- 
tricle presents an appearance which has been denominated tricornes, 
or three horns — anterior, middle and posterior." 

" c 5. In a note which the committee have received from Mr. 
Grimes, it is said that Spurzheim considered the spinal cord as 
having three commissures, anterior, middle and posterior. And 
also, that the functions of the body are subdivided by some phy- 
siologists into three classes. Richard divides them into those that 
relate to the individual, those that relate to the species, and those 
that relate to the acquisition of knowledge. 

" ' Second. The natural history of animals is all in harmony 
with this classification. 

" < 4. The three powers, viz. Amativeness, Alimentiveness and 
Individuality, which constitute the foundation of the three classes, 
are manifested by all animals. No animal, however low in the 
scale of beings, is destitute of these three. 

The organs of these powers are found in the very base of the brain. 
Amativeness at the lowest posterior ; 
Alimentiveness at the lowest middle, and 
Individuality in the centre of the lowest front part of the brain. 



APPENDIX. 339 

** * 3. In the social class, if we begin at Amativeness, we find 
-it manifested by all animals. If we proceed upward and forward, 
■according to the arrangement of the powers, until we arrive at 
Credenciveness, we shall trace the progress of society, from its 
very lowest stage, up through every grade of animals, to its high- 
est perfection in the most polished circles of human society. 

<c ' In the Ipseal class, if we commence at Alimentiveness, we 
■see it manifested by all animals ; and if we proceed upward, ac- 
cording to the arrangement of the powers, we find the first and 
second ranges of Ipseals manifested by the lowest classes of ani- 
mals ; the third range is manifested by the higher and more 
sagacious animals ; and the fourth range is fully manifested only 
in man, and in his brain only is it found fully developed. 

" ' In the intellectual class, if we commence at Individuality, we 
see it manifested by the very lowest animals ! and if we proceed 
upwards, according to the arrangement of the powers, we. shall 
perceive that the organs rise and expand out of each other, in a 
manner strictly agreeing with the progressive intelligence of 
animals ; Causality, the highest of this class, being manifested in 
a vigorous and efficient manner only by man, the very highest and 
most complicated of organized beings. 

" ' Third. 1. The Ipseal propensities produce those actions only 
which have for their object the nourishment, protection, improve- 
ment and happiness of the individual. 

<< ' 2. The Social propensities originate those actions only, which 
have for their object, the production, the establishment, and the 
government of society, and conformity to its useful regulations. 

" ' 3. The intellectual faculties acquire knowledge, and point out 
the means by which the propensities may be gratified.' 

" The considerations which Mr. Grimes has presented in sup- 
port of his division of the cerebral organs into three classes are of 
three kinds : — Anatomical Structure, Natural History of 
Animals, an. 1 Analysis of the Mental Powers. Of these, the 
committee have been unable to perceive the value which Mr. 
Grimes seems to attach to the anatomical facts. As a class of 
truths, they harmonize with this classification, and may therefore 
be said to lend it some support ; but alone they must be regarded 
as far from contributing sufficient ground for this division. The 
occurrence of the fundamental organs of each class at the base of 



340 APPENDIX. 

the brain, and the regular gradation of the powers, from Amative- 
ness to Credenciveness, through the socials ; from Alimentiveness 
to Hopefulness, through the Ipseals ; and from Individuality to 
Causality, through the Intellectuals, corresponding with the suc- 
cession of animals in the scale of beings, from the lowest orders 
up to man, are certainly in beautiful harmony with, and go to sus- 
tain the last and most important consideration upon which the 
classification rests. In the analysis, Mr. Grimes shows that all the 
powers of each class perform certain specific functions that have a 
generic character in common. All the powers of the Ipseal class are 
related to the individual, those of the Social class to society, and 
those of the Intellectual class to knowledge. He also shows that 
each of the powers of the several groups in each class have a sub- 
generic character in common. The first four socials, Amativeness, 
Parentiveness, Adhesiveness and Inhabitiveness, have for their 
object the continuation of the species and the establishment of so- 
ciety; those of the governing group/ Imperativeness, Approbative- 
ness, Firmness and Conscientiousness, have for their object the main- 
tenance of government in society, and the administration of justice ; 
those of the conforming group, Submissiveness, Kindness, Imitative- 
ness and Credenciveness, have for their object the perfection of so- 
ciety, by "obedience to government, condescension and kindness to 
all our associates, and conformity to their manners, habits and 
opinions." In the Ipseal class he shows, that the powers of the 
corporeal range are related to the nourishment and preservation of 
the body ; that those of the carnivorous range are most strongly 
manifested in the animals that feed upon flesh, and procure it by 
the destruction of life ; that Cautiousness in the herbivorous range 
characterizes the peace-seeking, ruminating animals ;* that those 
of the rodentia range distinguish the whole order of animals to 
which the beaver and squirrel belong ; that those of t the human 
range are fully developed only in man. He makes Playfulness 
the link in the Ipseal chain, which connects man with the lower 
animals ; the other organs of this range being exclusively human. 
He shows that men who have a developemeut corresponding 

* Secretiveness is thought by Mr. Grimes to distinguish the Herbi- 
vora. It is also manifested in a high degree by the Carnivora. The 
essential question, however, is whether the associated organs perform 
analogous functions. 



APPENDIX. 341 

with that of animals belonging to either the carnivora, herbivore, 
or rodentia, are, so far as their lpseal character is concerned, en- 
stamped with the dispositions - peculiar to the carnivorous, herbi- 
vorous, or gnawing animals. The Intellectual class, with the ex- 
ception of a division into ranges, he considers as a whole, and 
treats the organs in their order of succession, commencing at In- 
dividuality, and proceeding through the first and second ranges of 
perceptives to the refiectives. 

" From this hasty view of the principal systems of arrangement 
among the powers of the mind which have hitherto received at- 
tention, the committee pass to the more direct comparison of the 
classification of Mr. Grimes with that of Dr. Spurzheim. In doing 
this, it may be well to notice some of the principles of classifica- 
tion in nature, since correspondence with them can alone give 
perpetuity to any system, and since they constitute the only true 
standard of merit. Among those which, in phrenology, are 
obviously important, may be enumerated the following : 

" I. Powers immediately related in functional character should 
be arranged in the same division. 

" II. Powers not directly related, but differing in attributes, 
should be arranged in different divisions. 

" III. The order of succession of the organs anatomically con- 
sidered, and the relationship of the powers according to metaphy- 
sical analysis, should harmonize with each other. 

" If a classification is defective when viewed in the light of 
either of these principles, it is manifestly imperfect ; and that 
classification against which, when tested by these principles, there 
are found fewest objections, is the'most perfect. 

" In noticing Spurzheim's classification, it was observed that 
Language, manifestly low in the scale of perceptives — inasmuch 
as it is possessed by almost every individual of the animal king- 
dom, and the organ of which is at the very base of the brain — is 
ranked next to the reflectives. It was also seen, that Alimentive- 
ness, a propensity related wholly to the individual, is associated 
with Amativeness and Philoprogenitiveness, which are beyond 
question related to the species. He has placed in separate sub- 
divisions, Adhesiveness, Approbativeness and Benevolence, 
making the first an animal propensity proper, the second an 
affective power common to man and animals, and the last a power 



342 APPENDIX. 

proper lo man. While it is plain that Adhesiveness characterizes 
man, even in his higher walks, as much as animals, and more so 
than most, and that Appro bativeness, though common to man and 
some animals, cannot be claimed to be possessed by all inferior 
creatures, it is equally plain, from facts adduced by Gall, Spurzheim 
and Combe, that Benevolence distinguishes several orders of lower 
animals. This view leaves the alternative of regarding those in- 
stances where animals present a development of the powers not in 
conformity with the classification as exceptions to a general rule, 
or as considering the lines of distinction as improperly drawn. As 
no arrangement like the above is proposed by Mr Grimes, none of 
the above objections apply with force to his classification. 

" Since the authors of the classification before us draw the same 
line, and give it the same direction between the intellectual facul- 
ties and the affective faculties, or propensities, the' further question 
of relative merit resolves itself info the following inquiries. 

" 1. Is the distinction between sentiments and propensities 
maintained by Spurzheim, founded in nature ? 

" 2. If it be not founded in nature, are all the powers of the 
Ipseal class according to Grimes, related to the individual ; and 
are all the powers of the Social class related to society ? 

" 1. Combe says in his remarks upon what distinguish sentiments 
from propensities, that ' Acquisitiveness is a mere impulse to 
acquire ; but Veneration gives a tendency to worship, accompanied 
with a particular emotion.' Acquisitiveness is made the represen- 
tative of all the animal propensities, and Veneration of the moral 
sentiments ; and the argument based upon them is applied to the 
two genera. 

It is true that the evidence here to be adduced is in Conscious- 
ness, and therefore may perhaps be thought difficult to present ; 
but as the laws of the mind are immutable, and as the germ of ev- 
ery mental power is possessed by every sound mind, it may be 
fairly presumed that testimony upon a point of such importance is 
not altogether shut out from view. Let there be taken Firmness 
from the moral sentiments, and Combativeness from the animal 
propensities. When the former is in action, the possessor feels an 
impulse to resist the influence of others, and to maintain any position 
he may have assumed — a tendency to fixedness — and this feeling 
or impulse is called an emotion. When the latter is aroused, the 



APPENDIX. 343 

possessor feels an impulse to oppose whatever may be in his path- 
way. Now between the two, is there any difference beyond the 
particular character of the attribute ? Is there any thing amounting 
to a superaddition ? If there be not, this distinction of Spurzheim 
is without existence in nature. 

2. Are all the powers of the Ipseal class, according to Grimes, 
related to the individual, and those of the Social class to society ? 
In other language, it may be asked, could each power of the Ipseal 
class be brought into legitimate exercise, though the whole species 
besides the individual were annihilated — and could any of the So- 
cial class be legitimately exercised without the being of society ? 

A detailed reply to these interrogatories would involve an analy- 
sis of all the powers of the two classes, a task whose execution it 
cannot be conceived could be brought within the limits of this re- 
port. 

That these two generic functions are respectively characteristic 
of the two classes, it may be remarked, is not denied, since Car- 
michael and Besseires have admitted its truth among the lower 
powers of the two classes, though they were unable to perceive its 
extension through the whole. From a careful examination of the 
analyses, the ground of distinction between the two classes, and 
their limits seem to be well established. The subdivisions of the 
two classes appear among the obvious arrangements of nature. Of 
the lpseals, the corporeal range has relation clearly to the demands 
of the physical system. So nearly allied in function are Comba- 
tiveness and Destructiveness, that the language of their respective 
analyses almost seems to be applicable to a single power. No two, 
in many respects, appear so nearly related as Secretiveness and 
Cautiousness ; and the propriety of associating Acquisitiveness 
and Constructiveness is obvious, for the hoarding of possessions de- 
mands a place of reception. The powers of the last range, accord- 
ing to Mr. Grimes' analyses, appear all related to the improvement 
and the perfection of the individual ; they seem to point to higher 
and nobler spheres of action than any of the preceding ranges, and 
are therefore justly separated from the lower powers. 

Of the Socials, all the powers of the establishing group have the 
distinguishing generic character expressed in the name under which 
they are arranged. This remark is equally true of the governing 
and the conforming groups. 



344 APPENDIX. 

While the division of the powers into three classes, and their 
suhdivision into ranges and groups, may be considered important 
and useful, the distinguishing feature, and that which to the com- 
mittee constitutes the highest merit of the new classification, con- 
sists in this, that it traces the chain of functional relationship, from 
the lowest organ to the highest of each class. 

If Mr. Grimes' classification is founded in nature, the following 
are some of the advantages which may be expected from its 
adoption. 

1 . It will facilitate the application of phrenological principles in 
deciding upon character from an examination of the head. Upon 
noticing the predominance of one class of organs, it may be said of 
the individual thus marked, he is Ipseal, Social, or Intellectual ; 
or, upon observing two classes prevailing over the third, it may be 
said, he is Ipseal and Intellectual, or Social and Intellectual, or 
both Ipseal and Social. The same principle will be applicable in 
speaking of the developement of one group, or of two groups of the 
Socials, and also of the ranges of Ipseals and Intellectuals. The 
effects of a combined developement of particular groups in the 
different classes will be more readily understood. 

2. It will aid analysis, in ascertaining the ultimate function of 
each organ. Upon knowing its position, and the relation it sus- 
tains to others — with what organ it would probably act, and 
whether in the centre of a class, or joined to organs of other classes, 
its manifestations will be more readily perceived, and more clearly 
comprehended. 

3. It will aid in discovery, by directing the eyes of all phre- 
nologists to limited regions of the brain, when in search for the 
seat of a faculty, in whose existence they have been induced to 
believe. For example, if the seat of a supposed power related to 
corporeal wants be sought, the attention will be directed to de- 
velopements and deiiciencies in the corporeal range. If the 
function of the organ occupying the region marked upon the bust 
of Mr. Combe as unknown, be the object of discovery, several aids 
will be afforded. It must, in the first place, be either Ipseal or 
Social ; and in the second place, it must be either a Social of the 
conforming group, or an Ipseal of the human range. 

4. It will furnish phrenology with new claims to the character 



APPENDIX. 345 

of an established science ; and by its simplicity and consistency, 
will induce the student to pursue its investigation with the same 
kind of satisfaction that now attends his study of the older sciences. 

In conclusion, the committee state, that distrusting their own 
abilities to discharge the duties assigned them, they entered into 
correspondence upon the question to be determined with several 
phrenological writers. They have also examined all the published 
works relating to the subject which they could command. And 
with these materials before them, after weighing the whole matter, 
the result is the opinion, that the classification of Mr. Grimes is a 
decided improvement, as it arranges the powers of the mind more 
nearly in accordance with the ^laws of natural relationship than 
any of the systems which have preceded it. 

E. N. HORSFORD, 

Chairman of Committee on 

Grimes' Classification. 



" At the close of Mr. Grimes' lectures, delivered in the Chapel 
of the Albany Female Academy, the class organized by appointing 
Charles D. Townsend, M.D., Chairman, and Thomas W. Olcott, 
Esq., Secretary. Whereupon Henry Green, M. D., introduced the 
following resolutions, which were unanimously adopted. 

" Resolved, That we have listened with exciting interest to the 
Lectures of Mr. Grimes, President of the Phrenological Society of 
Buffalo, on the science of phrenology. 

" Resolved, That we believe Mr. Grimes has made new and im- 
portant discoveries in Phrenology; that his arrangement of the 
brain into three classes of organs, viz : — the Ipseal, Social and In- 
tellectual, together with their subdivisions into ranges or groups, 
is founded in nature, the anatomy of the brain, and the natural 
gradation of animals as they rise in the scale of being. 

" Resolved, That we are forced to believe that Phrenology, as 
taught by Mr. Grimes, may be learned by persons of ordinary in- 
telligence and observation, so as to be useful to them in their every 
day intercourse with society — that it is destined to improve our 
race, remodel the present mode of education, become useful in 
legislation, and in the government of children in families and in 
schools. 



346 APPENDIX. 

" Resolved, That we not only esteem it a duty, but regard it a 
pleasure, to encourage talents, genius and enterprise, wherever we 
discover them, and in whatever pursuit, if the object and effect is 
the improvement of mankind — that we regard Mr. Grimes as pos- 
sessing the highest order of intellect, as original in his observations 
and deductions, and as destined to fill a distinguished place in the 
scientific world. 

" Resolved, That we confidently recommend Mr. Grimes to- the 
attention of our fellow citizens in different sections of our extended 
country, believing they will find him an accomplished lecturer, a 
close, accurate, forcible reasoner, and inimitable in his illustrations 
of the science he so triumphantly advocates. 

" Resolved, That Henry Greene, M. D. , and Professor McKee, 
of the Albany Academy, be a committee to present a copy of these 
resolutions to Mr. Grimes, and request their publication in the 
daily papers of the city. ' 

« C. D. TOWNSEND, M.D., Chairman. 

"T. W. Olcott, Secretary." 



" Prof. Grimes, whose lectures on phrenolgoy, at Buffalo, Al- 
bany, and other cities, have excited unusual interest, and elicited 
the warmest approbation, proposes to deliver a course of lectures 
in this city immediately. His System differs materially in its de- 
tails from that of Gall, Spurzheim and Combe, though resting on 
the same general foundation. We have not yet heard him ; but 
from the testimony of friends on whom we can place reliance, we 
know that he handles his subject like a master, and that those who 
can find time to attend his lectures will be entertained and edified." 
— New Yorker. 

" Professor Grimes, the phrenologian, whose original and in- 
genious views on phrenological science have caused his lectures to 
be very much followed in our western cities, has arrived here, and 
puts up at the Astor. He brings with him most flattering testi- 
monials, from his Excellency the Governor, and others of Albany, 
where his last course was delivered. He proposes, we are pleased 
to hear, to give an opportunity to the citizens of New York to 
judge of the merits of his discoveries and deductions, in what he 



APPENDIX. 347 

justly terms the science of phreno-physiognomy, embracing all the 
phenomena developed in the brain, features, and whole organ- 
ization, and character and habits of the individual, as divided into 
the three great orders of mammalia, viz : — the camivorce, the 
graminivom and the rodenticc — corroborated by illustrations from 
every tribe of animated nature — the only true and exact base of 
this interesting science." — N. Y. Star. 

" New Tlicory of Phreno-Physiognomy, by James Stanley Grimes, 
Esq. — Mr. Grimes delivered his first lecture last night, at the 
American Institute, to a respectable and intelligent audience. 
Every body present seemed impressed with the truth, force and 
originality of his new views on the science of phreno-physiog- 
nomy. Mr. Grimes has the merit of making himself clearly under- 
stood, and of presenting his subject under its natural divisions, and 
with great distinctness. He appealed, in strong and effective dec- 
lamation, to the common sense of all present, and gave such fa- 
miliar, graphic illustrations of his analysis of the temperaments, 
and of the language of the passions, displaying the powers of 
mimicry and eloquence to great advantage, that all present, we be- 
lieve we may with truth say, were convinced that the theory of 
the Professor is based upon practical sound sense and indisputable 
facts." — Ibid. 

" Lecture on Phrenology. — Professor Grimes, we are happy to 
hear, has consented to repeat his introductory lecture on phre- 
nology this evening, at the rooms of the American Institute, rear of 
the City Hall. The views on the science of phrenology, presented 
by Professor Grimes on Monday evening, were entitely new, and 
elicited a universal request from the audience for a repetition on 
this evening, and we trust all who feel an interest in the subject 
will attend."— N. Y. Times. 

" The Lectures on Phreno-Physiognomy, by Professor Grimes. — 
Mr. Grimes will continue his course to-night, at the American In- 
stitute. The subject being one of particular interest, viz : — the 
highest range of the ipseal faculties, as he calls them, or those pe- 
culiar to man, as distinguished from all other animals. Mr. G.'s 
last lecture was received with great approbation, and fully sus- 



348 APPENDIX. 

tainted his bold original theory, which has the merit of producing 
conviction, because we have before remarked, its illustrations are 
drawn from the only sure foundation for these investigations." — 
N. Y. Star. 

" Mr. Grimes commences a third course of lectures to night, 
having been engaged to deliver the same before the Mechanics' 
Library Association, at their lecture room, in Crosby street, near 
the corner of Grand. The popularity of this gentleman is in- 
creasing daily, as is evinced by the flattering demands upon him 
by the most respectable literary institutions of our city. 

" We understand, the lectures of Mr. Grimes, at the Crosby 
street Institute, before the Mechanics' and Tradesmens' Library 
Association, are so crowded that it is next to impossible to obtain 
admission. Last night a great number had to go away. We felt 
sure that when this gifted and luminous expounder of the only 
true laws of phrenological science should have a hearing he would 
dai ly gain more and more converts to his views on this interesting 
subject."— N. Y. Star. 



Union College, Oct. 21st, 1840. 

The following resolutions were passed at a meeting of the Stu- 
dents of Union College, after attending a course of lectures, deliver- 
ed by J. Stanley Grimes', on the subject of Phrenology. 

Resolved, Thai Professor Grimes, as a Phrenologist and Elocu- 
tionist, merits our highest approbation. 

Resolved, That we consider his style of lecturing and system of 
Phrenology, as evincing diversity of talent, originality of thought, 
and extended observation ; and that his is a decided improvement 
on all the preceding systems of Phrenology. 

Resolved, That the President appoint a committee to transmit a 
copy of the above to Prof. Grimes, and also to one of the editors 
of the city papers for publication. GEORGE WILSON, Pres. 
Patrick U. Major, Sec'ry. 



On Friday Evening last, after J. Stanley Grimes, Esq. had de- 
livered his concluding lecture on Phrenology in the Exchange Sa- 
loon of this city, the audienee remained and a meeting was organ- 
ized by calling His Excellency, Gov. Edwards, to the Chair, and 



APPENDIX. 349 

appointing W. E. Robinson, Secretary. Whereupon the following 
resolutions were proposed and unanimously adopted : 

Resolved, That we have listened with increasing interest and de- 
light to the course of lectures just concluded by James Stanley 
Grimes, Esq., on the Science of Phrenology. 

Resolved, That we believe Mr. Grimes has made many valuable 
discoveries and improvements in the Science : That we admire his 
lucid explanation of the connection and harmony between the or- 
gans of the brain and those of the body, and that his classification 
and arrangement of the Phrenological organs appear to be founded 

in nature. 

i 

Resolved, That we take pleasure in recommending Mr. Grimes 
as a pleasing, original and able lecturer, that, whether in this 
country or in Europe, where we understand he intends to lecture 
on this science, he has our best wishes for his success and happi- 
ness. 

Resohdd, That the Secretary of this meeting be appointed to 
present a copy of these resolutions to Mr. Grimes. 

TO. E. ROBINSON, Secretary. 

New Haven, Dec, 12, 1840. 

Mr. Grimes' last lecture in Hudson. —On Friday evening last 
Mr. Grimes completed his second course of Lectures on Phrenology, 
in this city, before a numerous and highly respectable audience. 
At the close of the lecture Josiah W. Fairfield, Esq. made a few 
appropriate remarks complimentary to Mr. Grimes, and proposed 
that the audience should resolve itself into a meeting for the pur- 
pose of passing resolutions, expressive of its sense in regard to 
Mr. Grimes' lectures. Whereupon Col. Charles Darling, was 
called to the Chair, and J. R. S. Van Vleet appointed Secretary. 

J. Sutherland Esq. then rose, and alter some remarks expressive 
of the pleasure and gratification with which he had listened to 
Mr. Grimes' able exposition of his system of Phrenology, offered 
the following resolution, which, on motion of J. W. Fairfield, Esq. 
was adopted. 

Resolved, That we have listened with high gratification to the 
course of lectures on the science of Phrenology delivered in this 
city by Professor Grimes, and which have been this evening comple- 
ted. That we feel it due to Professor Grimes to express our 



350 APPENDIX. 

thanks for the instruction and pleasure his lectures have afforded 
us, and the interest we have felt in his able exposition of the 
principles of Phrenology. That his manner of lecturing is ad- 
mirable, combining amusement with instruction, and well calcu- 
lated to impress favorably all who hear him with the principles of 
the science. That we highly commend his zeal and ability in ad- 
vancing a science the aim of which is more perfect knowledge of 
intellectual Philosophy and of ourselves. 

The Secretary of the meeting then offered the following, which, 
on motion of Cyrus Curtiss, Esq., was also adopted, 

Whereas, the labors of Mr. Grimes are for the present ended in 
this city, we deem it a duty we owe to him — to the cause of truth, 
and to ourselves, that we give an expression of the high gratifica- 
tion with which we have listened to his interesting and instructive 
lectures. Therefore be it 

Resolved, That we approve of his classification of the Phreno- 
logical organs— of his explanation of the temperaments, and of 
his new system of Phreno-Physiognomy. 

Resolved, That we cheerfully recommend Mr. Grimes to the 
public, as an able advocate for his new and beautiful theory of 
the human mind, and from whose teachings we have derived in a 
high degree, intellectual pleasure and instruction. 

On motion, it was resolved that the proceedings of this meeting 
be signed by the Chairman arid Secretary, and published in both 

the newspapers in the city. 

CHARLES DARLING, Chairman. 
J. R. S. Van Vleet, Sec'y. 
Hudson, June 6th, 1840. 



